The Flash: Speedster of Central City
by LoganAustinGrasso
Summary: A new take on The Flash! When Professor Grodd creates a machine that creates its own artificial lightning, Barry Allen, a young forensics scientist, is struck by it thus making him lose his ability to walk. Although, when Silas Stone finds him and nurses him back to health, he'll soon find that he will be able to walk again...more than just walk...but to RUN!
1. Sins

As a child, I had always wanted to be a hero. In one way or the other. It just seems that would be the only way to make up for my wrong doings. I'll admit, I sinned in the past...very largely. It's time to get forgiveness. I know the only way to do that is to repent...so let me explain the terrible path I left in my wake. As a child, around nine years old, I had awoken to a slight tapping on my window. I cautiously stepped out of my blue king sized bed, across from it a poster of jet fighters and the logo **_EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE_** which of course is in Coast City, but that didn't stop me from liking fighter jets or any kind of jets for that matter.

My parents had insisted painting the room white, it made everything stand out a little more. It also brightened up the place, that reminded me to flick on the light switch. The floor is scattered with junk, a boomerang that my friend gave me for Christmas, two or three socks, a few comic books with crummy characters like Vibe, and finally, a jet fighter model. I place the antique back on it's shelf across from the window before opening it. When I peer outside, I see Owen Mercer, my childhood best friend.

He waves to me as a signal that I should come down. I take a look behind myself and hesitate...but I jump anyways. When I stand back up, I realize how much taller he is than me. Owen is about two years older than me, i'm surprised we still hang out. He's wearing a blue hoodie, dark grey jeans, and white Nike sneakers. That's when I realize that all i'm wearing is a white t-shirt and light green pajama pants. No socks or shoes...my feet are on the wet grass, probably getting muddy.

"Owen, what are you doing here?", I whisper to him harshly so he gets the message. My mom doesn't like Owen very much...not since he beat down a "defenseless" kid in class. He got detention for it, suspended for it, and ever since he's been doing things he shouldn't. He's been drinking...drinking what? You name it, his dad's beer, wine, and any other alcohol. So what bothers me now is...what does he have tonight? "Chill out, Barry.", he says in his perfect accent. I use to think it was cool but now it just became freaky.

He pats the top of my head like i'm his pet. "Nobody's gonna get mad at ya, they're all sleeping.", he says with a smirk that could make anybody hate him. When he smirks like that, it seems so obnoxious. He flusters my hair before reaching into his pocket. "Hold onto your pajamas, blonde, cause' what I got will blow your mind.", he says while grinning widely. He pulls out a pack of his father's cigars. "Snatched em' from my pop.", he says with confidence. "That's nothing to be proud of, Owen!", I shout at him, I figured if his parents can't make him reconsider his choices, I could...big mistake.

He shoves me hard so I fall flat on my back. "What's your deal, Allen?!", he shouts with a sneer. Before I can respond or lift a finger...that's when it happens. A flash of yellow light blinds my eyes, the damp grass dries almost instantly, a huge breeze blows Owen's dark brown hair as well as my dark blond hair. Then, just like it came, it was gone. "What the hell was that?!", Owen shouts in disbelief at what he saw. I didn't care what Owen saw or did at that moment, because I noticed something when it whizzed by...it was headed for my house.

Then...as if to answer my horrid truth...my mother let out a bloodcurdling scream. "Barry?", Owen said with discomfort before running in the other direction, I on the other hand ran towards my house, once I entered...what I saw scared my for the rest of my life. My father whimpering over my mother's dead body, her forehead was smashed in, her dark black hair was covered in her own blood. Her white button shirt was torn on the side, leaving signs of a struggle. Her blue jeans stayed tight to her legs as they twitched and her breathing became more scarce.

I turned to my father with widened eyes to see my mother's blood splattered across his face and dark green shirt. His grey sweat pants were soaked with blood as well...he was covered in it...blond hair too, but the place with most blood...was his hands. His hands were clutched into fists...and in one, was my mother's torn part of the shirt. Like every other person...I thought my father had killed her. He turns to me and begins sobbing louder, "B- Barry...don't look, l- look away...", he managed to say in between sobs.

"Dad?", was all I could manage at the time, my voice was low and hard to understand through my starting sobs, but my father still heard me. "Barry...listen, this wasn't m- me...", he said while standing up. I backed away from him in horror, away from my own father. "Don't be scared of me Barry...I didn't do it...", he said reassuringly. At that time I didn't believe him...so I turned...and ran. God forgive me, I left him to stand there with the guilt and pains that terrible night must've brought him. To make things worse...as I ran, I heard him cry louder, "IT WASN'T MEEEEE!", but I kept running.

My mother survived that night, but not really. More like she's in a coma, and the doctors tell me everyday that I visit...she won't wake up. I still go anyways...to tell her about my life, what I did right, what I did wrong. I never visited my father though...he was locked away in prison for attempted murder...the sentenced would soon change to just murder. One night, as I sat in the chair next to my mother, a week after the incident...the light came back. The whole room seemed to shake as the yellow blinding flash shined through my window, the lights to the room blinked on and off. Last time, I heard nothing...but this time, I could've sworn I heard a deep bitter laughter followed by these dreaded words, "So it begins, Barry.", and so it did.

That was just the start of my sins...I know it may seem small to you or anybody else...but to me, it was one of the big ones. This was one of the big ones too...a mentionable one. My girlfriend ever since I turned ten, Daphne Dean, had moved in with me. It was when I was twenty and so was she. We had our home, our life...and I had forsaken it. That night, I had gone out to what seemed like a mandatory dinner for my job with my boss, Fiona Webb, owner of Star Labs. Well, one of the fifty Star Labs in Central City...and that's just Central City.

Although, Fiona tricked me, we were the only ones at the diner and she had gotten me so much wine, so much that I got drunk. She took me back to her apartment and took advantage of me, we made out before it turned into something else. The whole time, my phone was wringing...but I never answered. The next day...I found out my beloved girlfriend, Daphne, had died. Nobody told me how, just that she was found dead from a heavy impact, they suspect a car hit her but she was far away from the street when walking. After her funeral, I finally checked my phone. It had three missed calls...

"Message one.", played the phone before it bleeped to Daphne's voice...how I miss it. "Barry, it's Daphne, i'm headed home now, when do you think you'll be back from dinner? Okay, give me a call when you get this, love you, bye.", I had tears in my eyes at the first...but it was nothing compared to the next..."Message two.", the phone said before Daphne's voice came back. Only...it wasn't alone. She was crying and screaming as loud as she could and nobody came, "BARRY! H- HELLLPP!", she roared into the mic loud enough for me to hear through the weird sound behind her.

At first, I thought she was in a tunnel or a train was passing by...but I knew it what is was...WHO it was, when it spoke in the same voice I heard that night at the hospital. "You lost track of what you were supposed to do. Now, let me set you back on course.", the voice said in a cocky way. It was confident, my God, I think it was getting a kick out of killing her. My tears began to come faster followed by sobs, the next message was the worst. "Barry...I now know that i'm going to die...just know...I love you...", said Daphne's sobbing, weak, tired, and injured voice. "End of messages.", the phone said at the end.

I let her die...I ignored her calls...and cheated on her. I'll never forgive myself for it, even if I was drunk, I should've known better. I won't deny that I made other sins, I ask for forgiveness of those as well...but those are the two that haunt me. Now, I want to turn over a new leaf. I want to become a police officer and stand up for what's right. To bring in this yellow flash of light...bring it to justice.

So here I am now, i'm a forensics scientist for the police department. One day, like any other, I was going over some old documents and reports when Joe West, the commissioner of police, came in. "How's it coming, Barry?", he asks while pulling up a seat next to me. "Same old, same old, just catching up on old paperwork.", I reply with a chuckle, "Too bad I can't just zip around and do them all in a second.", Joe and I had our little laugh to the joke I made. "That would be something, wouldn't it?", Joe said when he finished his laugh. He runs his hands through his dark orange hair and straightens the back tie connected to his blue uniform.

"So, Barry, I know this is gonna seem a bit strange but...", he pulls tickets out of his pocket and hands them to me. "Uh, Joe, you're not asking me out, are you?", I ask hesitantly, I mean it as a joke, but in case he's serious, I don't want to hurt his feelings. He laughs at my remark, "No, my daughter is...well, sorta.", he replies. This spikes my interest, "Daughter?", I ask while setting the paperwork aside. "Yeah, you remember Iris.", he says while handing me the tickets, I just nod in reply. "Well, she's a bit shy to talk to you, but she thinks you're "cute" and asked me to ask you to go to this thing with her as a date.", he explains to me.

I glance at the tickets, "WHOAH! PROFESSOR GRODD?!", I shout in surprise. "I didn't know she was into electrical frequency exhaustion which allows Grodd to enter the unorganic lightning source, it is artifical, but highly effective.", I stop rambling when I notice Joe has a confused look. "She's not...but she knows you are...into that kind of stuff.", he says. "Well, tell her thanks. I'll be there.", I reply with a smile. A date with Iris AND Professor Grodd's presentation, what could go wrong?!

Later that day, we met at Grodd's presentation, God, she's gorgeous. Light brown hair with a shade of light red hangs past her shoulders. The perfect smile, perfect green eyes, everything! She's wearing a red dress that stops at her knees, it's beautiful. "You look amazing.", is all I manage. She giggles, "You look good too.", she replies, yes, I did wear a tuxedo. I extend my arm for her to grab, "Shall we?", I ask, she smiles and takes my arm, "We shall.", she says with a impersonation of some fancy person. We laugh as we walk inside.

The crowd is enormous, it's like a show at Broadway or something! The curtains begin to part as the professor steps onto the stage. He's wearing a white tuxedo unlike everyone else's black tuxedos. Behind him is a cage that contains a gorilla and across from that is some sort of machine. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Thank you for coming here tonight, I am Grodd and this is my life's work finally complete. What you are about to see here tonight is artifical self created lightning. A new stronger and more pure energy source!", He proclaims from the stage which makes the crowd clap and cheer.

He continues once the crowd stops, "I will use this energy to make a common gorilla as smart as you or me, to have a mind of his own.", the crowd claps again before he continues, "Then, I shall submit an energy transfer to the earth for us to speed up a little. That's right folks...time travel.", that makes the crowd go wild. Iris leans closer to me and whispers, "What does he mean by that, like we'll go to the stone age or something?", I laugh at Iris's joke...then I realize she isn't joking.

"Well, what will look something extremely fast to people, like a racecar, is actually something or someone moving through time more quickly. Thus, time travel.", I explain to her, she is in awe at what I tell her, "That's amazing.", she says. I smile and nod my head, "Yep.", then I want to smack myself. Yep...YEP?! That's the best I could do? "If you don't believe me, if you think it's a fraud, come on the stage and examine the machine yourselves!", Grodd says to interrupt my state of mind. "WHOAH! COME ON!", I shout to Iris, "You go ahead, i'll wait.", she says with a shrug.

Boy, don't I know how to treat women? Once on the stage, i'm surrounded by many others that I can't fully examine the machine...but I am extremely close. "Do be careful.", Grodd warns the audience...that's when it happens. The machine whirs to life and panic forms in the crowd, people run, people stay, people shout, people scream, it's chaos. "REMAIN CALM! JUST CLEAR THE STAGE!", Grodd shouts to everyone who isn't listening. As I scan the crowd for Iris, I spot a man by the machine, tampering with it.

"HEY, YOU!", I shout while running towards him. He gasps at the sight of me, "GET BACK!", he shouts as lightning shoots from the machine towards him. "WATCH OUT!", I shout while leaping at him, that's when time slows, I successfully shove him away from the lightning...but I get in the line of fire as it is mere inches away. I figured that time was slowed so it wouldn't reach me in time...but then it sped up. I screamed as I felt the energy surge through me, my eyes darted around the room for any help as I was helpless, all I could do was watch. Watch the very same lightning surge between Grodd's head and the gorilla's.

I then woke up in the hospital across from my mother. I look around the room, i'm connected to an IV but instead of water, there's some sort of red and yellow liquid. "What is that?", I say out loud even though I didn't mean to. "We like to call it Venom...well, the early stages of it anyways.", comes a voice from beside me. I turn my head to see a man in some kind of hazard suit. "I'm Silas Stone.", he says while extending his hand to give me a handshake. I take it and reply, "Barry Allen.", he laughs and nods his head, "I know, that's why i'm here. I work for Star Labs and we're very interested in you.", he says while sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Why?", I ask with excitement, Star Labs, is interested in ME?! "You were exposed to the lightning that Grodd transmitted out of his machine.", he explains. "The lightning altered you somehow, your heart has been beating twenty seven times faster than any normal human's. It's luck that your still alive!", he shouts with excitement. "Whoah...", is all I manage. "Whoah, indeed, Mr. Allen, whoah indeed.", he says with a smile. "So...what's this venom for?", I ask with confusion. Isn't venom poisonous?

"No, it's not venom, it's called Venom. Well, not exactly. It was formally called Viper since it struck its victims like a snake. It would give them amazing strength and incredible power, but after an hour or so, it would die down...and the person would be no better than jelly. That's when we recreated it as Venom, a weaponized poison we could use against our threats. Although...it fell into the wrong hands, and it's been turned into something far stronger. So when you were brought into the picture, we messed with these two compounds and created something that'll keep you on your feet...", he trails off when saying that.

"I'm sorry...", he says while hanging his head. "For what?", I ask. "I should'nt have mentioned that thing about standing. Your ability to walk...it's gone.", he says. "WHAT?!", I shout while trying to roll out of bed, trying to prove him wrong. "Barry, don't!", he warns me while grasping my arms so I don't fall. Tears well in my eyes, "I'm not able to stand...walk...?", I ask with fear of the answer. "Not without the Venom.", he explains with a smile.

The next day, I have a full understanding of my new lifestyle. I can't walk, stand, run, or do anything with my legs as long as I don't drink the Venom. It lasts for 12 hours per bottle. The red liquid is so I can use the legs, the yellow liquid is sort of a cool down drink so my legs don't cramp up. Star Labs took the liberty of sending me seven crates full per week so i'd have enough. At least, that's what Silas told me. I'm still on day one, I just checked out of the hospital...and i'm walking. The Venom actually worked.

As I walk home, I notice a car pulling up to the red light ahead of me. Just for kicks, being able to walk again and all, I decided to race it. I got in my starting stance...waited for the green light. That's when it happens...the greatest thing of all time...in my book at least, I ran faster than a sports car. As it raced down the street and reached where I was, I lifted off and sprinted fifty blocks away in a matter of one second. I glance behind me while trying to catch my breath. "That was...awesome!", I shout to myself.

Then I realize my clothes are on fire and jump in a stranger's backyard pool...

Later, I make my trip to Star Labs so I can tell them everything that just happened. Out front, two soldiers in clad armor make me wait for an escort who takes me to Silas's lab. In it, I see he has a kid, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old i'd say. "Ah, Mr. Allen!", Silas says with a smile. "I didn't expect to see you again for a while, meet my son, Victor.", he steps aside so we can shake hands. "Hello Mr. Allen.", he says. I laugh, "Hello, sir.", I reply formally. "Takes after his father, I see.", I say while taking a seat.

"But let's jump straight to the point...Silas...I ran five blocks in one second.", I say with a wide grin. He chuckles, "Serious?", he asks, I just nod my head. That's when he gets serious and crosses his arms, "Show me.", he orders. I just shrug my shoulders and run around the room eighty times in one second. "Pretty cool, huh?", I ask Silas who is wide mouthed. "YOU'RE ON FIRE!", he shouts while grabbing a fire safety hose and spraying me down. For a moment we stand there in silence and awe. The silence is broken by Silas's boy, Victor when he shouts, "THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER!", which makes us all break into laughter.

"Barry, this is amazing, we MUST test your limits on this.", he looks behind himself, "Waller will be amazed.", he mutters under his breath. "Actually, Silas...could we keep this between just us?", I ask hesitantly. "Barry, the world needs to know what you can do! It could change everything!", Silas shouts in excitement. I know he's right, but change for what? The best or worst? "Silas, please. Nobody needs to know just yet.", I plead to him. He lets out a heavy sigh, "Fine, but we'll still need to test you and make some sort of suit that won't burst into flames.

"That sounds about right.", I say with a smile. "We could make a super powered treadmill or something.", I say jokingly. "Don't be ridiculous.", Silas replies. "That'd be epic!", Victor shouts, "Actually, it would be pretty cool.", I say to agree with Victor. "NO TREADMILL!", Silas says sternly. Victor and I hang our heads at the same time, "Awwww, mannn...", we say together.

For the rest of the day, Victor and I started working on our "secret" treadmill. The kid is extremely intelligent, his father should be proud. After hours upon hours, Silas peeks out of his work station, "What color should it be?", he asks me. I remember Iris's dress, it could be a hunch, but I think her favorite color is red. "Red!", I shout back. "Red? But why?", he asks like he's somewhat confused. I struggle for an excuse, "Uhhh, the colors of the Venom bottles, red and yellow.", I say while shrugging my shoulders.

Later, when the treadmill is complete and Silas exits his work station...he reveals my suit. I'll explain it to you from bottom to top. The boots are dark red with tiny traces through them that zigzag from the big toe and little toe to the top of the boot which is chest below the knee where a thick yellow lightning shaped hoop spirals all the way around. Above that is more red, not as dark as the boots but a little dark. The fabric looks like rubber as it stretches up to my waste line where a belt is attached. The belt is awesome, it is yellow and shaped like a thunder bolt, all the way around it are little pouches as well that contain the Venom bottles.

It's a pattern, red, yellow, red, yellow, red, yellow, ext. Above that is what seems like an armored padding, a lighter red than the lower half of my suit. In the middle of it is a glowing white circle that has a long golden lightning bolt stretched across it, it's so long that it exits the circle a little. Down by my arms is the familiar design of my boots, dark red as them only for gloves. Close to my elbows are the same thick yellow lightning shaped hoops. Last but not least is the epic mask.

The mask is made of a helmet like material only with an opening at the mouth and eyes. A thin line runs from above the eyebrow area and they run to the back of the neck before parting down to my shoulders where they make small circles. Where my ears should be are golden lightning bolt shaped earpieces about two inches long. "Wow, Silas...this is amazing. You really outdid yourself.", I say approvingly. "Wait, there's more.", he says like a spokesperson trying to advertise something.

In the eye holes, a thick dark yellow, similar to gold glass material slides down. "Goggles for when you run.", he says with a smirk. "That's awesome.", I say with Victor. He fist bumps me and we turn our attention back to his father. "Done playing around, yet?", he asks. "Sorry, dad.", Victor says before walking away. "So, let me show you the basics.", Silas says before tapping on the glowing circle connected to my chest. "Think of this as a tracer, you'll be moving so fast that it would've been impossible to pinpoint you, let alone track you...until I created this.", he says with a smile. "So it's a homing beacon?", I ask. "I'd guess so.", Silas says.

He points to the belt, "A belt to hold your drinks, you'll need them for sure.", he then points to the earpieces, "Earpieces so we can communicate with eachother.", and then he backs away. "The costume is made of a special material far greater than any firefighter's, this baby won't burn even if it were caught in an explosion.", Silas says proudly. "Thanks for doing this, it looks awesome.", I say with gratitude, this day forward, I can count Silas and his son as friends.

"Well, what are you waiting for? TRY IT ON!", Silas orders me like a father telling his kid to open a Christmas present. I suit up, and when I walk out, it feels amazing...like the suit gives me the power or something. "YOU LOOK LIKE A SUPERHERO!", Victor shouts in joy. "But your not a superhero, Barry. Don't get any bright ideas.", Silas warns me. "I know, Silas, wouldn't dream of it.", I say with a fake sarcastic voice. Just as Silas is about to speak, I hear the entry door opening and quickly put on my clothes to cover the costume.

Just when the door opens, I am already dressed. Victor and I grin at eachother, Silas stares at me in awe, he'll probably never get over it. I wink at him before turning my attention to the woman who entered the room. "Mr. Allen?", she asks. "That's me.", I reply, "Is something wrong?", I ask, wondering why she would be here looking for me. "A Hunter Zoloman sent out a request to see you.", she says to me while handing a clipboard over. "Just sign, and i'll take you to him.", she says while giving me a pen.

I hand it back to her, "I don't know any Hunter Zoloman, sorry.", I reply. "Well sir, he requested to see you first as soon as he recovered.", she says matter of factly. "Recovered? Recovered from what?", I ask curiously. "He was there when Grodd's machine went haywire.", she explains. Just like that...I signed the paper.

Star Labs escorted me to the hospital in a limo and into Zoloman's room with four guards surrounding me in a box like formation. This is making me feel uncomfortable...eventually we reached his room and I entered alone to see him with his back turned to me, looking out the window. I notice he's in a wheelchair...had he gotten superspeed like me? Or did he lose his legs and will never walk again? I approach him cautiously.

"Hunter Zoloman? I'm Barry Allen...you wanted to see me?", I ask nervously. "Barry...", he says silently...his voice sounds so familiar. "That lightning wasn't meant for you...it was meant for ME!", he shouts in anger. I step closer to him, "What do you mean?", I ask curiously, things are starting to get strange. "It was meant for me...", he mumbles to himself. I hesitantly step in front of him and when he looks up, I look him in the eyes. They're glowing red.

As if that isn't freaky enough...he then speaks in the voice I heard the nights of those two sins I told you about. "The lightning wasn't meant for YOU..."FLASH", it was meant for ME.", he says with a grin. I shake my head, not accepting it, the man that killed the one I love and put my mother in a coma is right here? I back away from him and try to exit the room while I hear his evil voice behind me.

"IT WASN'T MEANT FOR YOU!"


	2. Gifts

That night, those words haunted me...it wasn't meant for me. I thought I saved him but as nightmares and memories rolled into my sleep, I realized he tampered with the machine so he'd be the one getting shocked. I pushed him aside and took the blow of the bolt. Simple words describe it...it wasn't meant for me. After a terrible night's rest, I return to Star Labs...well...not entirely. I make a small stop at the gas station to grab some MnM's or a Hershey Bar for Victor...while there, something happened.

As I waited at the cashier counter, another man walked into the store wearing a black hoodie that covered his whole face. He wielded a shotgun and cocked it before aiming at me. "Down! ON THE FLOOR!", he shouted before forcing me down, "I got a shotgun, dawg, just listen.", he said in a threatening tone. While I kneeled down, I watched him turn to the cashier.

"You know what this is, give me the cash.", he ordered the cashier. That's when I had enough, I ran to the back of the store and suited up into my suit. He must've realized I was missing because a few seconds later I heard, "Don't try to be a hero, dawg...", as I stepped behind a clothing rack. I watched him get closer and as soon as he was close enough, I reached out quickly and grabbed his arm. He turned his head to see me and was shocked at the sight of my suit.

"Sup, dawg.", I said to mock him, I couldn't help but smile either. Of course, he started struggling and dropped his gun in the process. I just kicked it aside and made another quick joke, "Sorry, i'm allergic to guns.", I said while shrugging my shoulders. Thank God I didn't, but at that moment I was going to punch him as fast as I could so it would knock him out in one blow. Although, if I did that, his head would explode. A speeding force has the power to do that, allow me to explain.

If a speeding car were to hit you at its fullest speed...what happens? Same thing applies to my fist at such a speed. I still punched him out cold in one punch because I still used my speeding ability...just not as fast. Even taken down a notch, it left a bloody mark on his forehead. I took the money he stole out of his hand and handed it back to the cashier...but he wouldn't take it.

"No, no, keep it.", he said with gratitude. "I really couldn't, this is your hard earned money.", I said while trying to hand it back to him again. He just pushed my hand away, "Keep it, keep it, please.", he said. After five seconds of thinking, I knew I wouldn't win this. It's like your friend and you battling over who will pay the check at dinner.

I nodded my head and turned to leave when he spoke again, "Wait...you are a superhero?", he asked with excitement. I looked at myself in the reflection from the window...I did look like a superhero. "Uh...sure?", I asked more than said. "What is your name?", he asked. "Well, the whole point of my mask is to-", I started to say but he interrupted me, "Not your name, your superhero name...like Wildcat.", he said as an example.

I never really thought of a name. "Um...I don't have one.", I said honestly, "What about lightning man?", I winced at the suggestion, it was a stupid name. "Eh, you'll work on it.", the cashier said only to confirm it.

Later, at Star Labs, I told Victor what happened while we waited for his father to return. We tossed some names at eachother, some of which were pretty good. Speedster, Blur, The Bolt, The Streak, and finally...The Flash. "That's actually...pretty good. I think i'll use that one.", I said to Victor when he suggested it. "What's pretty good?", Silas asked as he entered the room.

"Barry stopped a robbery like the superheroes do on TV!", Victor shouted with pride. I signaled him to not say anymore by using my hand to look like my head is gonna get cut off. "He did WHAT?!", Silas said as furious as he looked. "Silas, I can explain-", I started to say but he cut me off, "It'd better be a good explanation.", he said while folding his arms.

"It is, this guy just came into a local gas station I was at and tried to rob the place. What was I supposed to? Just watch?", I explained. "Yes, this isn't like the Saturday morning movies and shows you watched. This is real life, if they got the chance, they would SHOOT you!", he shouted at me like a father scolding a child.

"Not if I move faster than a bullet.", I counter back, "That's not funny, Barry. No more of these hero antics.", Silas says sternly. Just then the alarm goes off signaling a security breach followed by the speaker blaring, "Everyone evacuate the area. We have a breach, I repeat, we have a security breach.", comes the warning. I then turn to Silas, "Not even now?", I ask. "Don't think about it.", Silas warns me. "Just did.", I reply with a smile before speeding off and putting on my suit.

As I ran through the hallways, I found many emergency exits and bystanders who I took the liberty of helping exit the building a little faster. Eventually, I found the breach, a huge hole in the wall and in front of it is a huge white van. I check the vehicle and find nobody in it before checking all the different rooms one by one. That's when I find a doctor shot dead, I kneel next to his corpse. "I'm sorry that I wasn't fast enough to get here before they shot you...", I say as my silent apology and close his still open eyes.

I hear more gunshots further down the hall and run towards them. As I enter the room, I see two men firing at doctors and other workers who have taken cover behind desks and tables. Behind the two men is a third who I guess they're covering. The third man is wearing a blue winter coat...I find out why when he opens the vault he was trying to break into.

A huge freezing chill races out, inside the vault is snow and ice surrounding a small handheld gun that could pass as a desert eagle if not for the blue lights on it. The man in the coat smiles as he takes the gun and aims it at the desks and tables. Before he fires the gun, I grab all the workers and doctors and run them out of the room in a matter of two seconds. I then stopped to allow the men to see me.

"I think you're overstaying your welcome.", I say with confidence. Maybe I can scare them. "Who the hell are you?", asks the man on the left. "Maybe this will clear things up.", I reply before running up to his face. "What did you just see?", I ask. The man in the winter coat replies, "The Flash...", as a smile grows on his lips.

I then realize that the man in the coat is about to fire his gun and grab the man in front of me before leaping aside with him. I watch as a huge beam of white and blue passes by the area we were just at. I don't hesitate, I run towards the man in the coat...but he fires the beam again, along with his still standing partner who shoots the normal gun. As I race towards them, I have a little fun and rearrange the bullets so they hit the partner in his legs and some hit the floor or wall.

Maybe I got a little too cocky with rearranging the bullets because I didn't have enough time to move before the beam hit me in the chest. It felt so cold that it was hot, the force of the impact sent me across the room and into the wall as ice began to freeze me to the surface. I struggled in the icy prison as the man came closer.

"At least we know the gun works...right, Flash?", the man asks with a cocky smile. I do my best to come up with a stupid name for a comeback, "You're right, Captain Cold.", I reply hoping that it works. "Captain Cold? Not bad...I like that.", he replies. I notice Silas sneaking into the room with a baseball bat and shake my head to tell him no...he doesn't listen.

Captain Cold notices it and spins around to fire the gun at Silas who is consumed in ice just like me. "NO!", is all I manage. Captain Cold's friends shout to him while helping eachother limp out the door, "Come on!", I watch as the man turns to me and winks, "Catch ya later.", and then he walks out the door with them. "Silas! Are you okay?!", I call out to my friend.

He stutters when speaking, "B- Barry...v- v- if you move f- fas- fast enough...you c- co- could vi...brate...out of the ice...", I listen carefully to his words. Vibrate out of the ice...I nod my head and try...for the first time, I vibrate my body and phase through an object. I race over to Silas...but seem a little slower. It must be the cold...

"Silas...what about you?", I ask impatiently. I can take the cold due to my suit and probably enhanced stamina. Silas, however, can not. "D- Don't worry about m- me...", he says with tears in his eyes. "Go...go get them Barry...", he says with a small smile. I shake my head and try to find something to smash the ice. I pull a table leg off and use it to bat away at the ice. I finally break him free and race him to the hospital before going in pursuit for Captain Cold.

I spot the van and run alongside it, "License and registration, please.", I say to get the driver's attention. When I do, the van swerves towards me in an attempt to run me over...but I just race around the van and run alongside the right side instead. "Road rage isn't very good for you.", I say before slowing my speed so when he tries to hit me again, he misses. I am now running behind the van...where the back doors swing open so I can see Captain Cold with his freeze gun.

He shoots an ice beam at me but I move aside to dodge it and run a little faster so I can jump into the back with him. He swings a fist at me but I move fast enough to dodge it. While he tries to throw another punch, I slide under his legs and push him from behind. His partner tries to help him by swerving the car to throw me off balance. It does...I roll backwards and onto the road...but manage to get back on my feet and continue running after it.

Other cars come to a hault and swerve as he races through red lights. I run ahead to find a ramp that goes onto a bridge overhead the road. From there...I jump onto the van's roof. The van tilts a bit from the impact but somehow stays up and moving. I think the driver finally notices i'm on the roof and slams his brakes causing me to go flying off and onto the pavement. I struggle to stand and spin around to see the van going in reverse.

Captain Cold leaps out of the back and walks towards me with his aim ready...and fires. He keeps firing at me while I run and zig zag through the trees across from us in the park. I watch as the tree trucks get frozen behind me, I then do a 360 and run back the other way I came. This catches Captain Cold off guard before I slow down and rail into him. The force of the impact sends us both down, luckily I slowed down or else he'd be a pancake right now. I watch the van stop going in reverse and punch it at full speed...driving right at us.

I know the driver only spots me and plans to kill me, but he doesn't see his partner. Who I save and carry out of the way. He shoves me off and stands with his freeze gun drawn...but not at me? I look at where he's pointing it...at a little girl. "You want to be a hero so bad? THEN SAVE HER!", he shouts while firing the gun at the little girl. I race over to the girl and carry her away. When I look back, all I see is the van turning a corner.

I prepare to run after him so he doesn't escape but the little girl grabs my arm. "Wait, mister, can you find my mommy?", she asks. I stare at the road they escaped to for a moment before replying, "Yes...", and helping the girl.

Meanwhile, Captain Cold was making preparations for our next encounter. "The Flash...he moves too fast. I need to be able to see him when he moves.", Captain Cold explains to his boss. His boss remains unknown, one day Leonard Snart was fired from Star Labs when his cold gun didn't get approved. The next day he was notified by a secret employer by e-mail. The employer had given him plans and money to steal the cold gun back...but hadn't warned him about Flash.

Leonard had e-mailed him once he returned to his base of operations, wanting to know how to contact him. The employer had given him a Skype contact and they now speak through the voice call. "I think i'll be able to provide you with something...", the employer replies.

Later, at Star Labs. I had returned to see how Silas and Victor were recovering. "Barry...can I speak to you in private?", Silas had asked me. Of course I said yes and we left Victor to wait. "What's up, Silas?", I asked...not knowing what my friend was going to say. "Barry...I don't want you coming around here anymore.", Silas had stated. I was bewildered...my friend had just told me to leave him alone. "I've got a kid to worry about...I could've died...then my son would be without a father. Even worse, what if my son had died?", he explained to me.

"I- I understand.", was all I managed. I did and do understand. A father would do anything to protect his child. "I'm going to tell Victor that you have superhero business to attend to elsewhere or something. He likes you so it'll be a little hard on him but over time he'll get over it.", Silas continued to say. I just nodded my head, "Okay...it was good knowing you two.", I said before walking away...but Victor was waiting for me there.

"I heard you two...are you seriously leaving?", Victor asked me with tears in his eyes. "Yes...but only to protect you.", I explained. He just wiped away the tears and pulled something out of his pocket. "Well...if you're going to be a hero, then you'll need this. I made it for you back when we were talking about your suit.", he explained while handing it to me. "What is it?", I asked, about to open my closed fist to see, but he stops me.

"Only look when you capture that guy...it'll be my gift to you.", he says. "A gift for what?", I ask. "A gift for catching your first bad guy.", he says with a smile.

Later that week, I had returned to my work as a forensics scientist. I had patrolled the streets as Flash, saving kids from running out into the street, getting cats out of trees, stopping muggers, and just being there in case Captain Cold were to return. That's when he did. What seemed like another day at work turned into something more when the police radio buzzed, "Attention all units, we have reports of a break in at Star Labs.", and I had raced to the place that Silas had told me not to return to.

Luckily I did...because when I entered, I found them cornered by Captain Cold who had his cold gun pointed at them. "Let them go.", I said sternly. He turned his attention towards me and smiled. He looked slightly different. He now had a darker blue winter coat with metal padding on his shoulders and elbows. He also wore some sort of goggles that looked too high tech to be normal.

"Ready for round three?", he asks before firing the cold gun. As always, I attempted to dodge it...this time I didn't. It was like he saw me running at a normal speed or something, because when he missed, the next fired stream didn't. It nailed my shoulder, this slowed me down a bit so I took cover behind a ceiling holder.

He fired another stream which hit the holder so much, it bursted into ice and snow. I ran to the next one, next one, next one, and last one. Each one destroyed except for this one. The room is freezing, ice and snow covering everything. "Slowing are we? That would be the hypothermia setting in.", Captain Cold says to taunt me. He fires the cold gun again, destroying my last hiding spot...for the moment. I race to take cover behind a desk.

"Come on! Quit running, and fight! You won't have anywhere to hide soon enough!", he shouts angrily. "I think you need to take a chill pill.", I say as a pun to irritate him. "We'll see who gets a chill...", he growls under his breath. It seems my corny jokes are working. He fires his cold gun again, destroying the desk. Although, I don't need it...because i'm done hiding. I run around him and go in for the attack, but like before, he sees me coming like i'm in slow motion and fires the cold gun at my other shoulder.

I stumble into the snow from the impact. My position isn't good right now...both shoulders frozen, the cold weather is slowing me down, and I can't get close enough without being shot down. Not only that...but he has my friends as hostages. I don't give up though...I start crawling through the snow in an attempt to reach him, but he shoots another beam of ice on my leg...pinning me down.

"Looks like I win.", Captain Cold says with a smirk. I look at my leg to see if I can still run...it's in bad condition, but it could be possible. While looking down, I see my belt of Venom enhanced drinks are also frozen. They must've added extra weight to me and slowed me down...that could explain it. I unlatch them and begin to vibrate the ice off my shoulders and leg. I have a hard time standing...but manage.

"Do you ever know when to quit?", Captain Cold asks me with anger in his tone. "Not really.", I reply before uppercutting him. My punch manages to knock his goggles off and force him on his back. "NO! MY GOGGLES!", he shouts while crawling away and digging through the snow in a desperate frenzy attempt to find them. Victor must've spotted them, because he runs over to a spot in the snow and snatches them up while running towards the exit.

"I'll get these far away!", he calls out to me. "VICTOR!", Silas shouts while running after his son. Captain Cold soon follows in line, chasing after Silas. I follow next, chasing after Captain Cold. I tackle him in the hallway as he aims his cold gun at them. I manage to pull his arm back though...and the ice freezes HIM instead.

"Heh...ironic, Captain Cold sounds like some sort of ice pop...and now you are one.", I say after freezing him. I make eye contact with Silas and Victor for a second before speeding off.

Later, while I was doing some paperwork, Victor came to visit me. "So, you defeated your first bad guy.", he said. "Well...I guess I did.", I reply with a smile. "Did you look at your gift yet? It's so you can keep your suit hidden but ready to put on in a few seconds at any given moment.", he explains. "I haven't yet, I was waiting to look at with you.", I say while opening the cabinet I put the mystery object in. When I look at it...I smile.

It's a golden ring with a lightning bolt on it.


	3. Grodd, Part I

So, this is how I start my day now. Fighting a silverback gorilla in the middle of traffic. Let's wind this back a bit though, shall we? Less than five minutes ago, I was working in my office when my good friend, Joe, paid me a visit. "Time to wait for results...", I said while placing a tube of blood from a crime scene into the small analyzing machine. "I wish I could just speed you up, too.", I mutter to myself. Ever since I gained the powers of speed, I have very little patience.

"Unless...", I say as a thought strikes me. That's when I tested a new form of using my power by shaking my hand at a wild speed while holding the tube. It seemed to work as good as the machine, only faster. Of course, by this point in my little flashback, Joe enters the room. "Barry-", he starts his sentence, but in the length of time for him to take a breath and start the next word, I put the tube of blood in my pocket. I know that if Joe saw it finalized so quickly, he'd be suspicious.

"We need you downstairs, everyone is going crazy.", he explains. "What? Why?", I asked while following him out the door. "It's all over the news!", he shouts before pointing at the live television. On it, Iris is reporting from a helicopter cam that tracks a silverback gorilla that rushes past the sidewalk. Many bystanders run and scream at the sight of it, cars swerve or crash while trying to avoid it or go in reverse. I can already tell it's chaos so I waste no time waiting and run in the direction of the gorilla.

While keeping a slow pace where I won't catch on fire, I use my ring to launch the costume out and increase the speed while forcing it on. Before anybody can blink, I reach my destination in my full outfit. The mistake I make when getting there is slowing down, the gorilla has time to swing his enormous fist into my chest which knocks the wind out of me and sends me through the air.

To me, time is slower, I drift through the air slowly and think my way through the situation. If I stay at this speed then the force of the impact will splat me like a pancake. If I let the regular drift come into flow then i'll land still in tact but the gorilla would have time for another attack. I don't know much about them and their aggression, but this one is pissed.

I have no choice but to slip into the normal speed of a normal man and land on my back. The gorilla roars in fury before slamming his fists down at me, luckily, I use my speed and roll out of the way in time. That's when it hits me like a ton of bricks, I feel dizzy, I feel light, everything begins to fade as I stumble into a crashed car. I had forgotten to drink the serum. Usually, if I go for a period of time without using my powers, it isn't noticeable, but when I do, it starts to take its toll.

I reach for it around my belt and find the bottle. Luckily, I have the arriving animal control to distract the silverback as I chug the liquid. The van comes to a hault only mere feet from him and the men rush out with rifles. As my vision clears and the speed returns, I get ready for another round. Instead of attacking, the beast runs away and begins to climb up buildings, getting closer to the helicopter. If the gorilla was as smart as a human, i'd say he's planning to attack it.

My superspeed is great but it can't help me fly...that's when I realize. I don't have to fly...there are other ways to defy gravity. If I run fast enough, I could probably run up the side of the building. I breathe in and out before charging full on at it, and run against the wall to the top. I meet the gorilla there who seems startled, I use the hesitation as an advantage to race over to him and let myself slow only a little before ramming into him so we both fall to the ground.

He takes the blunt of the blow as we hit the sidewalk. I realize that a crowd has gathered around the battle and don't want to startle them. To try and make the serious moment a little happier, I attempt a joke. In between breathing, I manage to say: "Well...if he's King Kong...does that make me the beauty?", Yes, I know it's a crummy joke but it was the best I could do. The crowd doesn't laugh either, so thanks for the encouragement...

Before anything else can happen, I run away from the scene of battle and return to the police station as Barry Allen. On the television, I can see the red streak of light know as me race away as the camera turns back to Iris. Even on television, i'm so fast that it took me faster to get here than the light. "As you can see, the flash of light we've all been experiencing in daily rescues was at it again. Meanwhile, we can watch animal control contain the gorilla.", she says.

As if I never left, Joe turns to me with wide eyes, "Can you believe all that?", he asks. I can only help but smile, "Yeah, it's awesome.", I reply. If only he knew...later that day, the strangest thing happens. I get a cellphone call from Star Labs asking me to meet with Silas once again. Instead of waiting for the appointment, I race over instantly and enter the doctor's lab. Any chance to see my friends again is a chance i'm going to take.

"Hey Silas!", I say a little too loud as I enter. I glance around the room for Victor, "Where's Victor?", I quickly say. "He's out drag racing with his friends.", Silas says while waving it off. "Okay...", I reply while sitting in a nearby chair. "I called you here to ask you about the encounter with the silverback.", he says, getting straight to the point.

"What about it?", I ask. "Could you talk to him? As Flash?", Silas asks...at first, I laugh, just the idea of a gorilla speaking is unbelievable. But so is a man running faster than anything else. "You're serious?", I manage to ask as my laughter settles. I know he's serious when the only reply is a nod of his head. In the instant it probably took him to blink, I shoot the suit out of my ring, suit up, and pose.

Later, i'm sitting across the gorilla in an interrogation room. He has some kind of high tech handcuffs to subdue him as a doctor places a high tech helmet on his head. "This helmet we designed allows him to speak.", the doctor explains before switching it on and calmly exiting the room. The gorilla smiles at me, "I didn't expect to see you again so soon.", he says as if he already knows me. Just the ape speaking catches me off guard but him acting like we know eachother really surprises me.

"They told me that you'd only speak to me. Why?", I reply normally, trying to forget the fact that he's a gorilla. "Isn't it obvious? You and I both know more about eachother than anyone else. Or at least...we will. Now, future...past.", he says while twiddling his thumbs. "I don't understand.", I decide to reply, it's the truth, afterall.

"You see, you're not fast.", he states firmly. "I beg to differ.", I reply trying to match his tone, but it comes out more of a threat. The speakers to the room boom before a doctor's voice comes through, "Stay calm with eachother or we'll have to separate you.", he says before it shuts off. I see the gorilla roll his eyes, "They're eavesdropping. We'll talk some more after I escape.", he says matter of factly. "Escape?", I ask curiously.

"Yes. I just needed this device to speak and to get it, I had to be caught by Star Labs. I'll be leaving now that I have what I need.", he replies before standing. The speaker once again booms out, "Sit down, or we'll have to use brute force to make you.", the doctor says. The gorilla chuckles before slamming the handcuffs on the table, thus smashing them both.

I stand up, ready for a fight. "Don't go ape shit on me.", I say with a small grin. He smiles back, "That's the humor I missed so much.", he replies. Before I can reply...an explosion goes off, blinding me. My ears ring, my sight blurs, light and fire flashes around me as debris lands left and right. I can hear slight gunfire behind the ringing as my vision fades.

When I wake up, Silas is stitching my busted forehead. "You're awake.", he says calmly. "Yeah...what happened?", I try to manage saying. "The gorilla escaped with aid from a friend.", he explains. "I don't get it...who is he?", I ask, confused on how this gorilla became so smart and important. "Remember the day the lightning hit you? He was the gorilla contained during the blast.", he explains.

"I remember...that's how he knew me.", I say while sitting up. "I suppose.", Silas says while taking the bloody rags and stitches away. I decide to come out and ask him what the moodiness is about, "Silas, why are you trying to distance yourself from me?", I ask. He turns around, with a new look on his face...fury.

"Victor...he crashed yesterday."


	4. Grodd, Part II

"Oh my God...where is he?", I ask in a panic. If I had known, I would've done something, I should've saved him. "Victor is...in a coma. Listen, Barry, I need to get my mind off things. This whole thing with the silverback helps.", he explains. "Yeah, of course.", is all I muster. Silas...the good man I knew was putting aside his son who may or may not be alive.

"I don't know what his plan is but it has to be stopped. The only way for that to happen is for me to be honest with you. Waller doesn't want anybody knowing about this, especially you...but a series of paradox fluxes are being located left and right. They started years ago but ever since the day you gained your abilities, it seemed to increase on a MUCH larger scale.", Silas continues to say.

I can tell that the lies and situations he is going through are bothering him so I put aside the fact he kept secrets from me and move on. "Okay, thanks for being honest. So, what do we do about the fluxes?", I ask impatiently, wondering where he's going with this. "You need to close the next one, keep whoever, or whatever may be going in or out from entering or exiting the flux.", he starts to explain while turning to one of the computer monitors.

"I can trace the next one's signal, but you'll have to be fast and reach it.", he continues to say while typing commands into the console. "It all sounds good to me, doc. Although, there is one problem...how do I close the flux?", I question him further. "I honestly don't know...if you find Grodd, he may be able to come up with a solution.", Silas says while shrugging his shoulders.

"You think the gorilla kidnapped Grodd or something?", I ask, wondering if it's a possibility. "Maybe.", he says silently, maybe even under his breath. The monitor interrupts our conversation by alerting us that a flux is opening. "GO! NOW!", I hear Silas shout to me before running in the direction of the flux. Once I arrive, I realize that we're in the middle of a forest and the gorilla is in front of me with speaking to someone hidden in the shadows.

"I hope I didn't come at a bad time.", I say with a fake smile. Putting on a fake smile, the jokes, the sarcasm...it's the true mask. It hides the emotions I feel...like fear. Worry. Doubt. "Just as I predicted. It isn't time, though.", says the man in the shadows. Once I hear his voice, the shadows don't keep it a mystery anymore...it's the voice of the man that caused me pain from childhood to now.

As always, after he speaks, the yellow flash of light follows. I try to run at it, now that i'm faster, I can stop him. Somebody stops me...the gorilla, he grabs me by the arm and tosses me into a nearby tree. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that.", he says in a strange tone, a tone that makes it sound like he's sad that he stopped me from chasing the man. I shrug off the fact that they're working together and focus on what Silas said. The fluxes...

"Where's Grodd?!", I shout while standing. He chuckles, "You idiot...I AM GRODD!", he shouts before charging at me. I run to the side and dodge his attack. "Seriously?", I say, quite shocked. I then decide to turn it into a joke, "Gorilla Grodd?", I laugh at the name I come up with for him. "So that's how I got the infamous name...", he says, interested in the title I give him. "What do you say we go back to Star Labs and give you a comfy prison cell?", I ask him, hoping he surrenders.

"Not until I take care of what I came for.", he growls, clenching his fists. "And what may that be?", I ask. "I might tell you when we have the rest of the chat we started earlier at Star Labs.", he says while turning and walking away. I run in front of his path to block him. "Why not continue it now?", I say before running to nearby store, grabbing two chairs, leaving money on the counter, and running back in under two seconds.

I return and sit in my chair, tossing him the other. "Have a seat.", I say, gesturing to the chair. He just roars and throws it at me, luckily I see it coming and run aside, the only thing breaking is the two chairs when they collide with eachother. I then snatch some dirt and run by him while tossing it in his eyes. He shouts in agony while covering them.

While he's blinded, I run laps around him, leaving two or three slow speeded punches every few seconds. Eventually, he lashes out in anger, whacking me to the ground. I quickly stand and run a few feet away to keep my distance, just in case. "You were quite brash before your eye was taken, weren't you?", he asks me, in past tense...not to mention him saying that my eye was taken? Just then...it seems the world freezes.

I feel a slight burning in my muscles, things begin to speed up...and i'm in the middle of a city. It's devastated...behind me stands several others, somebody with an S on their chest. Someone in green with a slight glow, and many others...a women warrior, a creature of the night, a martian, a king, and others...we're a team. Then...it vanishes, i'm back in the forest with Grodd.

"Did you see that?", I ask, nervous and worried of what I just saw. He only smiles in reply. "ANSWER ME!", I shout. "Your visions have begun...haven't they?", he says more than asks. "Visions?", I ask, curious of what he may know. He just raises his hands, surrendering himself to the swat team that surrounds us, guns raised. I don't wait around to see what happens next...I just run.

I go to my apartment...with so many questions and so little answers. I collapse on my bed, the burning still bites my body, but it leaves at a slow pace. What did I see? A devastated city...a league of other people like me. How did I see it? A memory? A daydream? No...Grodd said it was a vision. He and the yellow flash are working together. I need to know more...and the only person capable of giving me results is Grodd.

I race to Star Labs, eager for an interrogation. There, in his cell...is Grodd. "How about that chat?", I say to signal him that i'm here. He's facing the wall, away from me...until he stands and walks towards the cell door, arms behind his back. "Of course, i'm sure you have many questions.", he replies. "Yes...you know what they are, so what are the answers?", I reply, tired of waiting.

"Like I said, you aren't fast. It may look like you are but in truth, you're a time traveler. It's why you had a vision, of the future. That's where i'm from.", he explains, the impossible truth. "I don't believe you.", I reply, I mean, why should I? He's a madman. "You don't have to, but it's the reality of the situation and the sooner you realize it, the better. In the future, you lead a league of other superpowered 'heroes' into a devastated city...the city was devastated due to YOU!", he starts shouting, in anger. "No...NO!", I shout back, denying the lies.

"It's the truth! IT'S YOUR DESTINY!", he shouts back. "You can't be from the future, time travel isn't possible!", I shout back. "Then how do you explain the fact that I knew about your eye, Mr. Allen?", he replies with a slight smile growing. It hits me like a truck, "What did you just call me?", I reply, startled at the horror of him knowing my identity. "I know your secret, Barry. Soon...everyone will.", he replies with the smile growing.

I don't listen anymore, it can't be possible, he's just getting inside my head, twisting things. I storm out of the room, running away from the evil thoughts and lies he could muster up to destroy me. It can't be true, it's all I say to myself...but one thing tests otherwise...in my vision...

My right eye is covered by the fabric of my mask.


	5. Time

I lay awake on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Motionless. I've never stood or layed still for so long...not since my gift, no, my CURSE. I now see the vision every day. Each time, more vivid, more clearer. I've been watching the news, some of these people, I reconigize. It's insane. To know that i'm actually a time traveler, that I can look into the future. I never really thought about taking action upon it until now. Somebody must know what to do, how to help.

Silas Stone, he was the first to cross my mind. "Silas. We need to talk.", I said as soon as I ran into his office. He was startled at first, but then a bit angry. Often, he's been that way towards me. I think he's trying to distance him and his son against me. I wouldn't blame him, their lives have been put in danger more than once because of me. "Barry, i'm a little busy, ever since that night, Waller gave me the files to create on the paradox ratings.", he said, a bit annoyed.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Grodd told me something...a bit startling...i'm a time traveler.", I told him while taking a seat. "I can even see visions into the future.", I add. "It could explain things. Why these fluxes are so active...", he mutters to himself. "Here's the thing...in the future, my vision. I destroy Central City...I lead a group of heroes...or villains, to fight something. I don't know what.", I continue to explain.

"Let's stop a second here. You can speed yourself up in current time, a minor flux. These OTHER fluxes, paradoxes, are stronger. Like they shoot across a few years from the past or present. Maybe even future.", he explains while grabbing a pen and paper. He draws a long line segment. "Here's the past, Point A, then somebody beams across to Point B...the future. In the middle, we have just the present, reality as we know it.", he then rips the page out and starts writing on a new one.

He does a few small calculations across the page until he creates an image out of the numbers and letters. What looks like a treadmill. "It makes sense now. To run alone, at such a speed, would erase you from time. A small chance of you reappearing at a random point in time is relevant.", he draws a line like connect the dots. "You could go from Point A to Point B or even Point B to Point A without knowing it.", he then goes to make another line.

He stops when he realizes how it starts to zig zag. "Oh boy...", he mutters. "What's wrong?", I ask, still trying to understand the concept. "Apparently time travel isn't the only posibilites, apparently, if you change history, it makes a new point. Point X, where nothing matters, but it still occurs. ON AN ENTIRE SEPERATE LEVEL!", he looks excited and scared while explaining it. If only I understood it. He must realize that I don't, because he explains it calmly and simply.

"Other dimensions, Barry.", is all he has to say. He then turns towards the treadmill Victor and I built. "With that treadmill, you could go cosmic. A cosmic treadmill, of sorts.", he explains. "So, let me get this straight. If I run fast enough on this thing...i'll end up in the future?", I ask hesitantly. "I have no idea! That's the exciting part!", he shouts with joy. I run my hand through my hair in frustration.

"Silas, what are the chances of somebody else running this fast without the treadmill?", I ask. He laughs, "That'd be impossible! Like I said, you'd phase away, out of existence.", he continues to laugh like I told him a joke. The yellow light, the flash of light...a Reverse Flash, was capable of doing it. If I can't...then he's faster.

The man...is he Hunter Zoloman? I don't wait to find out, I race over to the hospital...to find out that he's missing. All that remains in his absence...is the wheelchair.

What I didn't know, was before I arrived...the Reverse Flash did. Hunter was sitting in his chair, staring out the window like always. When himself arrived in the same room...only from the future, and wearing a similar costume to mine. Only, the red is yellow, and the gold or yellow is red. He doesn't have the upgraded Venom bottles. He has no belt...he doesn't need it. Instead of a glowing white center piece, his is a darkening black hole.

"Hello Hunter. It is time.", he says with a smile. Behind him, Grodd enters the room. "First order of business, i'll lure Flash into the open.", he says with a chuckle.

At the present, where I don't know Grodd and Reverse Flash are working together, I stand alone in the hospital room. Before I hear the radio with breaking news, "This is Iris West, reporting live as a witness to what appears to be the return of the gorilla that escaped Star Labs.", after hearing that, I race through the city, in search of the gorilla.

When I find him, I run and leap off of a nearby car to land on his back. He spins from the impact, and roars in surprise. He waves his arms around, trying to grab me, he attempts and fails. He then tries something else, he runs backwards into the wall, letting me take the impact and let go. He then tries to slam his fist on me, but I roll between his legs and run across the street to get some distance.

"Missed me.", I say, to taunt the beast. He roars in fury and tosses the car I used earlier towards me. It rolls and crashes across the road in my direction, but I run to my left and dodge it. "Missed me again!", I say with a chuckle. Grodd charges at me but I run to the other side of the road before he reaches me. "You're not very good at this, are you?", I say while crossing my arms.

Grodd pounds his chest and turns towards the crowd of reporters being kept at distance by police. "Maybe not when playing with you, but these primitive primates won't fair as much as you have.", he growls before charging at them. The police open fire at him, two bullets hit his shoulder and stomach, but he keeps charging and whacks one into the air. I run and leap to catch him midair and land on my back to protect the cop.

"Are you okay, officer?", I ask. "Y- yeah.", he replies before I toss him aside and run at Grodd. Grodd is holding the other cop by his ankle, reporters swarm away and towards him, trying to flee or get a story for their station. I weave in and out, around them all before slamming into Grodd's back, sending him to the floor. The cop collapses oposite of us as Grodd spins back around and whacks me into a police car. I try to stand up, but Grodd doesn't let up, he grabs my arm and flings me at a blockade which breaks on impact.

I get to one knee, ready to stand back up and fight. I then notice Grodd grabbing Iris, who screams in terror. Grodd begins to climb up the side of another building, I run up it like last time and meet him at the top. "Let her go, Grodd!", I shout at him. "I'm willing to comply...if you are.", he replies. "I'm not going to negotiate with you.", I say through gritted teeth. "Oh, but I think you are. Your belt for this lovly lady.", he says with a grin.

"My belt? What do you need that for?", I ask, curiously. Iris looks to me with pleading eyes. Grodd just stares back with a confident, smug look on his face. He thinks i've lost. "You want the belt? Take it!", I shout before unlatching it and tossing it over the ledge of the rooftop. "NO!", he shouts before leaping after it and letting Iris fall over the ledge as well. I run after her, and catch her. She thanks me one hundred times over as I let her go. It doesn't matter how much she thanks me, because Grodd is gone.

And so is my belt.


	6. Blackout

"What do you mean you lost the Venom?!", Silas shouted once I told him the story about Grodd. "He had a human life in danger.", I replied, keeping my gaze away from his. "Would it have been any different if that human was somebody else besides Iris West?", he replies while folding his arms. "How do you know about her?", I ask, a bit curious, considering I never told him about my feelings for her. "Star Labs keeps tabs on as many people as possible. We made it a little easier to keep tabs on you once you joined forces with us.", he says as if it's a common answer to a common question.

"Silas, that's not right! I have a private life, so does anybody else you're keeping tabs on. It's not your place to snoop around in them.", I reply, angered at this horrible truth. There has been rumors of organizations like Argus keeping tabs and secrets, but Star Labs is a different case. It has highly evolved weaponry, and more! It's like Lexcorp turned evil or something! "It's not my choice, Barry. It's Waller's and she makes the calls here. I agree, it isn't right for us to eavesdrop on anybody, but it's for the better good.", he replies.

"The better good? I'm the results of a better good. People like me or Superman!", I shout back, knowing full well it's the truth. Superman saves people, he helps people. I may not have been doing as good a job as him but it's the best I can do. "Like you or Superman? People like you and Superman CREATE the problems! This...'REVERSE FLASH' is a result of YOU! Grodd is a result of you, all of these freaks are because of you! Superman brought that alien here...Brainiac, it was him who created that menace. 'Heroes' like you, make the villains so you can be called heroes.", he replies in a furious rant.

His rant becomes a dagger through my heart. He could be right...he probably is. "If that's true though...at least i'm working to clean up my own mess.", I say before leaving the facility in a blink of an eye. What I didn't hear before I left the facility was Silas' next sentence. "Barry, the true problem right now is the missing Venom. Without it...in the next ten hours, you'll be paralyzed again.", meanwhile, another threat I didn't know about was making it's course of action.

Grodd enters the small room, my belt wrapped around his wrist. Reverse Flash stands next to his past self, now in a new wheelchair. "Thank you for the assist Grodd.", Reverse Flash says before removing two of the Venom bottles. He procedes to mixing them and shaking it. "Your calculations better prove to be right, Grodd.", he says before handing the bottle to Zoloman. For me, this procedes to activate the powers, but only because i'm one of a kind. The bolt affected me differently. That's no longer true...i'm not one of a kind. The horrible truth...is Zoloman was affected the same way I was.

He was paralyzed just like me, has the same energy flow like me...almost a perfect copy. Only with bad intentions. Being paralyzed longer though, without any dose of the Venom, he'll need a stronger dose. With a stronger formula...comes a faster speed. Zoloman drinks the Venom, takes in his power...and stands.

Meanwhile, a clueless me just returned to his house. I switched on the TV, as always, the news was talking about some rich guy's life that nobody cared about. The millionare, billionare, whatever he is, Bruce Wayne was back on his feet, recovering from a car accident. With his cane, he kinda looks like Gregory House. I roll my eyes at how ridiculous the news eats this up, I mean, millions of people get into car accidents daily, what's the difference here?

I put some leftover pasta in the microwave so it heats up and head to the bathroom to wash my hands while it reheats. After washing my hands, and retrieving the recooked pasta, I take a seat on my couch. Just as i'm about to change the channel to watch a cool show of some sort, the Bruce Wayne story is interupted by breaking news of a breakin at Argus. Should I really care? I'm sure the cops can handle it, I mean, one day of the Flash taking a break and eating some pasta won't kill anybody, will it?

Then I see it...a security camera catching footage of the Flash speeding through the facility. Maybe he didn't take the day off...

I don't wait, I suit up and race to the scene to find several dead corpses. I check them and see that they died by a fast impact, as if a large bus hit them or something. I turn my head to see the entrance being sealed...my evil twin apparently enabled lockdown. I race to get through the door before it slams shut, but i'm too late. I pound at it, hoping it would give in.

Meanwhile, inside Argus, Reverse Flash and Grodd stand by the control panel. "Grodd, ensure our friend doesn't get in before I complete my work.", Reverse Flash orders before speeding off. Back outside, I decide to stop pounding at the door and think things through. Silas told me that I could phase through time, but it would be unsafe since I could phase from existence. If I ignore the fact that I only move fast due to me going through time faster than anybody else and that I just move fast. Then, with common sense, people know that if something moves fast enough it could phase through solid objects.

Instead of phasing myself to a different point in time, i'll phase myself to a different location in the same point of time. I'm going to pass through this solid object like a phantom.

While I performed my phasing trick for the first time, Reverse Flash was passing several containment cells in search for the one he came for. Inside one of the cells is a flaming woman codenamed Pyranis. Across from her is the man that Reverse Flash came for. Codenamed Blackout, a prisoner surrounded by pure energy. There is almost an infinity in how many codes a person could make with only the numbers one through nine. In a matter of two seconds, Reverse Flash tries nine hundred thousand and forty six combinations until he hits the right one.

The cell slides open with a hiss. "Blackout, I presume.", Reverse Flash says with a grin. As Blackout steps out of his cell, the lights flicker on and off, afterall, Blackout is made up of pure energy and matter, electricty flows through his veins. "Are you here to kill me?", Blackout asks in response. "No, I'M not. I'm here to free you. In return...I need your assist in something.", Reverse Flash replies.

"Impossible.", is all Grodd manages to say when he sees me phase through the door on his monitor. Grodd growls to himself before ripping an air duct out and climbing inside. Meanwhile, I begin to run through the halls of the facility, finding many sealed doors and many injured or killed guards. Eventually, I come upon an elevator. I step inside and hit the top floor, where I predict the control room is.

I feel the elevator shake before Grodd rips open the emergency hatch from the roof. He roars while swinging his arm through the tiny hole, in an attempt to grab me, but I continue to run side to side, dodging his grasp. Suddenly, the power goes out. The elevator stops and starts to begin it's deathening drop. I grab onto the handle bars, Grodd holds the ceiling, we drop...then it stops in an abrupt backup power startup. While Grodd is distracted, I use all my strength to pry open the elevator doors and run into the hallway.

He roars while trying to bash open the roof and climb out. "Going down?", I say with a smirk before hitting the bottom floor button. Just as i'm about to race back out, he grabs my leg and hoists me onto the roof of the elevator with him. I roll aside as he slams his fists down. He throws clumsy swings and punches that I dodge easily, trying to avoid any kindof grasp he can get. I can't keep it up forever though, so I start taking notice of my surroundings.

The cable wire that lifts and lowers the elevator cart. If I break it, we'll drop again. I know i'm not strong enough...but Grodd is. I start moving around the wire, hoping he'll whack the cable and make it snap. He doesn't at first, but as I start to slow down, he gets an easier shot...and whacks the cable. I jump onto the matience ladder before it trembles...and drops.

"See you next fall.", I say to the dumbfounded Grodd. I then turn my attention to getting to the top floor again and begin climbing up the ladder. What I didn't know, was that Reverse Flash had already made it back to the bottom floor with his new partner. They were about to exit the building when Reverse Flash heard Grodd's weakened voice, "Wait...", he said weakly. Reverse Flash turned around to see Grodd pinned to the shaft by the destroyed elevator cart.

"Help me.", he mutters. "Grodd, why should I help you when you've outdone your part?", Reverse Flash replies before turning and leaving him there...with a replacement, Blackout. "DON'T YOU LEAVE ME! I'll return...and make you suffer, MAKE YOU PAY!", the betrayed beast shouts in anger. He tries to lift the cart off of himself but it seems useless. That doesn't stop him from continuing to try. I eventually find out that the control room is empty and race back down to the lobby where I find Grodd left behind.

"It seems your owner abandoned you.", I say through gritted teeth, trying to mask my anger with a joking voice. "Shut up, Allen...he's not my owner...and i'm definally not his PET!", Grodd replies, trying harder to get free. "Would a banana make it all better? How about this, i'll get you a banana if you tell me where your boss is hiding.", I say while walking towards him, ready to push further in this interrogation if I must.

"You'll find that out yourself...in due time.", comes Grodd's reponse...but not from the one in the shaft...but from behind me. Before I can figure that out, Grodd grabs me from behind and tosses me onto the lobby's greeting desk. "Two Grodds?!", I shout in surprise. "Present.", says the one in the shaft. "Future.", says the one who caught me by surprise. "Allow me to explain so your feeble mind can understand. My present self was in a bad state after my mind was transferred to my test subject. He could've never put any of this together, he was too busy putting himself together, trying to get used to his new body. Well, I came from the future with my partner to explain our plan to him. I was to pose as him and go on a rampage so Star Labs would retrieve me...so I could speak to you.", the future Grodd starts to explain.

"Well, I had my past self free me once that was done. I also retrieved this little trinket for myself so we could speak.", he continues to say while tapping the helmet on his head. "It was then just a matter of making history the present so our plan would go into full motion. I met with my partner to ensure you wouldn't come from the future and ruin history in the making. Luckily, you didn't. At the same time though...you did. This you. The present you.", he says with a shrug after he finishes explaining.

"What's your plan?", I ask while getting back to my feet. "My plan is classified, as for Zoloman's, I figured it would be clear to you by now. You'll just have to figure it out yourself, I suppose. Time travel can be a bit confusing, can't it?", Grodd says with a slight smile. "You're telling me...", I mutter before grabbing the lamp on the desk and swinging it like a baseball bat at Grodd's chest. It bursts on impact, but doesn't do any damage, Grodd just returns the favor and whacks me into the wall.

I crawl to my feet and try to keep going, but while I regain my footing, Grodd is busy freeing himself. The two Grodds remove the rubble and begin to escape. "Until next time, Mr. Allen.", Grodd says while pulling out a small controller that produces some sortof white portal surrounded by white rings. He starts to step through it but I race ahead and grab his 'past' self before it shuts. We collapse backwards, escaping the portal.

"NO!", Grodd roars while tossing me off. I watch as he raises his fists above me, expecting the blow to come. It doesn't, instead, the door hisses open and several Arugs soldiers race in while shooting Grodd with tranq darts. Grodd twists and turns, losing his balance as more tranqs hit him. The giant silverback collapses once they do the trick, and I stand. I look around the room to see the men still have their weapons trained...on me.

Meanwhile, Reverse Flash returns to his base of operations to meet with his past self. Blackout follows behind him, his blue glow lighting the dark enviornment. "Where's Grodd?", Hunter asks his future self. "He didn't make it, Flash defeated him.", Reverse Flash explains. "I should've came with you!", Zoloman shouts in anger. "It would have been too dangerous for you, it would have compromised my mission.", his future self replies, gesturing towards Blackout.

"What exactly is your mission?", Zoloman responds, curious of what he could've came up with. "To create myself, to ensure that the Reverse Flash exists. To do that, I must ensure you have your speed...permantly.", Reverse Flash explains as Blackout steps forward. "You see, you were supposed to be hit by the lighting, but instead, it hit Barry Allen. You were affected too, but not as much. This meant you had the capabilites of Flash but couldn't use them. Therefore, in the future, I began to lose my speed, to fade away...", Reverse Flash continues to explain.

"I couldn't allow myself to fade from existance. I went back in time to retrieve the Venom that gives Flash his speed. That was step one. Step two was figuring out how to make the liquid stronger for your use, in that case, I needed Grodd's help, the smartest enemy of Flash that I know.", Reverse Flash finishes his explanation. "So that's where we are now...so what's step three? What's HE for?", Zoloman replies, a bit scared of the answer.

"Step three...is to recreate myself. Blackout is made of pure energy, and with it, it will spark your speed to the point that you won't you need the Venom anymore, thus meaning that you'll be Reverse Flash, THUS MEANING, I will never fade from existance...thus meaning...I can finally begin step four...confronting the Flash.", Reverse Flash finally explains.

Meanwhile, I had ANOTHER problem unfolding. The Argus team leader steps forward..."Nice to meet you Flash. I am General Eiling.", he says before I get shot by several tranq darts.

And I black out...


	7. Jumpstart

I can't tell the difference between dream and reality. Not anymore. It's as if i'm looking through a microscope, I see a little blur of something terrible, something disgusting...and yet, I can't do anything about it. It's the sight again, or as Grodd called it, "The Vision". Although...when I saw my visions, it was when I stood awake and aware. This time, it's more like a dream. I see the army again, the leauge. I can recongize some of them now. Superman specifically, he's become very popular.

This time, the vision is a dream. I can't wake up, I can't snap out of it. Usually, the vision is a still image, I get a quick glance and then it's gone. This time, it's like i'm there...watching myself. So, I just stare, stare at myself who looks back with hate in his one seeable eye. This time, something new happens in the dream. Superman places his hand on my shoulder and says something I can't hear, but by the look on his face, I can tell that he's trying to talk me out of something.

Then, the yellow flash, mixed with red, as I clash with who I predict is Zoloman. The blinding flashes of light blind me and seem to wake me up as I snap back into reality. I'm laying faceup on a bed, but not any ordinary bed. It's an operating table. I stare up at a shining lamp, the light blinding my eyes. I try to move my arm, anything, but I can't, i'm bound back by restraints. Two people on either side of me only appear as shadows due to the light. They gesture and motion to eachother, saying something I can't hear. A slight buzzing prevents me from listening.

For a moment, I fear that i'm trapped and don't stand a chance. My body is paralyzed due to the tranq dart effects, not that it's needed since i'm also bounded to the table by restraints. Then, I come up with a plan. With every plan, though, there is a fault...this fault is...I could die. Considering these people will probably kill me anyways, it doesn't matter, I should just risk it. I got to thinking...if I could go through time faster to simulate me being faster, then is it possible for me to slow time on myself to go slower?

I realize, if I focus on my heart, make its beat a little slower, it'll simulate the effect that i'm dying. I have no idea how they'll react, but if they release my restraints it could be my only chance of escape. So it's what I do, begin to slow my heartbeat, slower, slower, and slower. The slower I go, the more I feel myself going, I feel cold, my sight, the control over my body, it all fades. Soon, it becomes harder to think. I'm dying and they aren't doing anything about it...or so I thought. Suddenly, I feel the restraints loosen, so I take my advantage.

I speed up the heartbeat, my heart races, recovering from how slow I made it. It still doesn't fix the problem of my body being motionless. I do manage to roll myself off of the table though...and I fall three feet onto solid concrete. Through the ringing in my ears, I hear muffeled shouts as they try to comprehend what is happening. I do my best to crawl, towards a blurry desk I can see through my restoring vision. I can hear gunfire erupt throughing the ringing now, I take cover behind the desk, using it as a coverfire that absorbs most of the gunfire.

I wait for the buzzing in my ears to fade, my body motion to return. It takes a while but the ringing disappears. I have no time to wait on my motion to return since the bullets is splintering the desk. I use any energy that i've got left to run forward, to avoid the gunfire. I stumble clumsly and crash into a few monitors. It's hard to regain my focus, I try to speed up my heart more, to get the blood flowing a little faster.

Meanwhile, my problems only get worse. Blackout grinned as he placed his thumbs on Zoloman's forehead. He started to flow the energy through him, a red and blue glow engolfed him. As the energy sparked the Venom, it began to mold with him, become permanent. Zoloman cried out in pain, the process was painful...but once complete. Zoloman shared red glowing eyes with his future self...Reverse Flash. Indicating what anybody would realize...they now had unstoppable speed...greater than the Flash.

Back at the facility, I had gained enough strength to run around the room and collect everyone's guns. Once done, I tossed them into the garbage bin. They all glanced at eachother, shocked for a single second. Then they started drawing handguns or knives in replacement of their previous weapons. While they did that, I took the moment to run through the pair of swinging doors that acted as the room's entrance and exit.

I continued to run, up a flight of stairs and then ramps, until I came to a long straight forward hallway. Many doors on either side lined it, I started to open them and look inside in case they were an exit. Most of them were shocking, Argus shouldn't be able to get away with these horrors. One of the rooms was filled with rows and rows of water tanks. Inside the tanks was the same man, only at a different age in each row. The first was filled with infants, the next was children, the final was teenagers. Clones...

I don't who it is, but it isn't right. I have to do something about it, i'll return someday, when i'm restored to my full health. I move on to the next room, inside is a small circular android. On it's top is a brain, covered by a glass. It's sickening. I go on to look inside another room where I find an elevator, above it is a monitor. On the monitor is a hulking grey beast with pointed bones protruding from it. It's trapped inside some sortof containment, where its arms and legs are bound.

I then hear General Eiling, he's shouting orders of some sort to his men. They'll be upon me any second, so I decide to shut the door behind myself for the next room I enter. I turn around, wondering what this room contains...what it contains is unbelievable. A huge spacecraft that can't be from our world. I'm standing on a ramp overlooking the massive shuttle, it's as large as a carrier. Next to the ramp is a long spiral staircase, I run down it, curious of what this ship holds.

At the bottom of the staircase is a catwalk that goes directly up to the hatch where you would enter it. I examine the door, it has no handle or keypad. All it has a large symbol...of a green lantern? In the centerpiece of the lantern shape is a small circle where you would place something to unlock the hatch. A key of somekind...maybe a ring?

Just as I come to realization, the vision returns again. This time, it focuses on a green suited man that glows slightly. He bears the green lantern on his chest and has the ring on his finger. The vision ends abruptly, letting me know that this shuttle has to do with my vision. I try to phase through it like I did last time but my body still isn't recovered. I then turn my attention to several soldiers charging into the room, guns raised.

Elsewhere, back at Central City, my other foes discuss their next course of action. "We now need to draw out the Flash.", Zoloman's future self states. "I agree, i'm finally ready to-", Reverse Flash cuts his past self off, "NO! You are NOT ready. I am more experienced, this younger Flash isn't capable of facing me yet. I can defeat him, if you go up against him, there is a possibility of your failure. I cannot have that, if you die or fail, it will result on my timeline as well, either ensuring I don't exist, or ensuring that I never came here.", he explains.

"So, how do we draw him out?", Blackout asks. "Make yourself useful and terrorize the city. He's a hero...he'll come.", Reverse Flash replies with the obvious answer. Back at Argus, I run past the group of men and slam the door shut behind me. While they try to open it, I run back down the corridor, and notice a gate starting to close, to lock me out. I won't let it happen again! I charge at it, and barely make it. But I do.

On the other side are baffled soldiers that I make a face out, sticking out my tongue, waving my hands, that whole childish thing. "You can't catch me!", I taunt them before running up the next ramp. At the top, I come face to face with General Eiling who has another squadron of men behind him. "Hello, again.", he says. "Bye, again.", I reply back before running around him and down another hallway.

I then come to a stop and notice an airvent. It'd probably be more stealthy. I pry the cover off and begin climbing through the airduct. After many lefts and rights through the ventilation shaft, I find the next cover, light gleaming through its slits. I push it open and climb out...i'm outside. But not in Central City...i'm in a desert. No matter, after a long time of running, i'll eventually find the city again...better start.

Back at the city, Blackout is causing chaos, shooting balls of energy at crashing cars. The buildings surrounding him die of power as he walks through the streets. The road burns slightly from the singing footprints he trails behind himself. "HA! Where's your hero, now? Huh?! Where's the great and powerful, 'Flash'?! He isn't here to protect ya now, is he? What are ya? SCARED?!", Blackout shouts, hoping to catch my attention. He does. "Of course not. I mean, why would I be scared of a walking glowstick?", I ask while skidding to a stop.

He shouts in aggervation due to my remark before shooting a bolt of electricty at me. I just run to the side and dodge it. "Nice try, sparkles.", I say, taunting him again. His anger grows as he fires more bolts at me, I just continue to dodge them all while continuing to taunt him, "Missed, missed, missed again! You're not very good at this.", I say before running towards him and throwing a punch. On impact, he stumbles back, clearly letting me know I hurt him...but he hurts me too. His face is made of energy...and it burns.

I shake my singing hand to try and make it not hurt so bad. "Stings, doesn't it?", he says before emitting a shockwave of electricty. Normally, i'd be able to outrun it, but the civilians in the area can't. So I run around, gathering them all up, putting them in buildings or far enough to miss it. I manage to clear them all but myself, and the shockwave rails into me, knocking me onto my back.

Blackout chuckles at his success in hitting me before throwing another bolt of lightning. I roll to my feet and dodge it. "That's the best you got, lightbulb head?", I ask. "I'm just getting started!", he shouts back, his hands glowing more than his body as he charges up his next attack. I'm ready for it, when suddenly, my body seizes up and my legs start to give in. I instinctively reach for my belt...to find it isn't there. I forgot! Without the Venom, i'll go paralyzed from the waist down! I try not to show any sign of weakness as I collapse and make a fake joke to cover it up.

"Oh no! Glowing hands! I give up!", I say sarcastically. "Keep laughing, punk.", Blackout snarles before firing a stream of energy at me. I close my eyes and wait for the impact...when it comes. It hurts more than any other pain I ever felt. I can't help but scream as it burns and stings at me. Then...it dissapears...and is replaced by a wonderful feeling. My heart speeds up, the feeling in my legs return. The feeling of being jumpstarted.

I stand back up, taking in more of the power. Blackout's face goes from happiness to confusion. I then start to run, carrying the stream with me. Before he knows what my plan is, I run behind a fire hydrant, letting the stream of electricty hit it, causing the water to spray out. Blackout screams in pain as the water collides with his stream of electricty. He collapses once drained of energy.

All is silent for a moment. Then, people begin to clap, to cheer me on. It feels good, I can't help but smile. But it only lasts for a moment, that single evil voice rips a hole in my happiness once again. "Flash.", is all he says. I hope it isn't who I think it is...but just as I knew, when I turn around, I see the opposite of me. A yellow Flash...a Reverse Flash. No darkness, no blur, no flash of light to hide him...no...this time...I see him in the sunlight. I see the man who killed the woman I loved. The man who put my mother into a coma. The man who framed my father.

"You.", I say back, with complete hatred. I can see people running away or hiding by the corner of my eye. Good...I won't have to hold back. I clentch my hands into fists...I grit my teeth and start walking towards him. He grins in ammusement. Then...

We charge full speed at eachother.


	8. Brawls

We charge fullspeed at eachother. I bring my fist up, hoping for it to collide with his jaw. He does the same with his fist, and once they collide, we emit a sonic boom. The force of the impact sends me rolling backwards two times until I come to a stop facefirst into the dirt. I prop myself up on one elbow and look forward to see what it did to my enemy. Dust and smoke clears around the cracked and damaged street where Reverse Flash stands, unmoved. He moves quickly and kicks my jaw which sends me backwards onto my back. It draws up blood from my lip and leaves a nasty bruise.

"I wasn't expecting you to put up much of a fight.", he says while grabbing me by my throat. "But this is just ridiculous.", he continues to say while hoisting me into the air. I struggle to catch a breath and grab onto his arm, trying to pry it off. "This is merely a beatdown.", he says next before punching me in the gut and dropping me. I try to hold it in but the punch causes me to vomit along with puked up blood. My rival chuckles to himself, proud that he was able to make me seem so pathetic.

He kicks me in my side, possibly cracking a rib. I fall over on my side and try to roll away. He stops me with another kick, this one to my back. "Look at you, running away from the fight. This power suits you.", he says with a fiendish smile. He turns his attention away from me to make a speech to the people watching my terrible performance. "SEE THIS?! THIS is your hero. Your PROTECTOR...the Flash...and I beat him.", he says, taking in everyone's fear with pride. I struggle to speak through gasping breaths, "No...you didn't.", I manage to say.

"What did you say?", he says with a sneer. "I said...YOU DIDN'T!", I shout before using my remaining strength to grab and throw a handful of dirt and dust into his eyes. He reaches for them and cries out in agony. I quickly stand up and turn my strength of getting up to leaping forward and tackling Reverse Flash. I force my elbow into his chin as we fall and follow up by throwing a punch to his left cheek. I'm about to throw another punch at him but he knees my chest and kicks me off.

We both struggle to our feet and back away, regaining composture. I wipe the blood from my lip and get my hands up, ready to continue our fight. He stares at me, inspecting me. Then he grins. "That's the Flash I want.", he says before charging at me. I duck aside and jab his shoulder lightly, tagging him. It does no damage but it makes him throw a sloppy punch that I manage to weave away from. I throw another jab to his chest and catch him, he roars in pain before throwing another sloppy punch. I don't know how, but he goes faster than me and nails me, sending me back a few steps.

Meanwhile, his "past" self waits for his return. The sound of the doors opening catches his attention. "You're back.", Zoloman says, thinking it's his future self. "Of course I am. I always come back.", replies a familiar voice. Although...it doesn't belong to Reverse Flash. "One way...or another.", says Zoloman's previous partner. Zoloman manages to mutter in fear, "Grodd...", before the silverback charges at him.

Back at our brawl, I throw four jabs at Reverse Flash as fast as I can, but he stays one step ahead of me and dodges them easily. I don't see his next attack coming, the right cross hits my face and reels me back. I try to keep my hands up to block any other attack but his next one is a kick to my left knee. I grab it in pain and leave myself open for an uppercut to my chin...once again...I fall flat on my back.

Meanwhile, the Zoloman of my time moves aside fast enough now that he has his speeding capabilites. Grodd seems surprised at first but then laughs. "It all makes sense now. I understand your plan...rather your future self's plan.", he says. Zoloman stays on his guard but responds, "If you're so smart, you should've known what it was before.", the silverback grunts in response to the statement. "Yes, well you have one flaw in it.", he states firmly. "What's that?", Zoloman asks. "After all that time of protecting yourself so you can be the Reverse Flash in the future, he blindly left you open for me. So to speak...you're no longer safe.", Grodd explains.

Back at the brawl, I back away, trying to keep distance with Reverse Flash. He makes a fake yawn, "You're boring me, Flash. Why don't I mix things up?", he says before running headfirst at the crowd of civilians. For a moment, I fear he's attacking them but I get struck with relief when he just runs up the building behind them. "You love being a hero so much. SAVE THEM!", he shouts once at the top. What he does next surprises me, he moves his hand so fast, it works as an axe, slicing through a podium like a tree. The podium is one of three connected to a billboard on the roof.

He slices the first one and moves to the next one, but I race up the building to grab him from behind and stop him. It does nothing when he uses his elbow to strike my nose from behind him. I let go and reach for the bloody nose as he continues to slice the next podium. "NO!", I shout as the weight of the billboard comes down on the remaining podium. Before it can fall and crush the running or screaming crowd below, I run down and carry them all to saftey.

Behind me, Reverse Flash races down and rails me to the ground. Meanwhile, Grodd's past and future self trick Zoloman's past self, the past Grodd stands in front of him, distracting him, as the future Grodd returns from his master's meeting and attacks from behind. As anybody would take down a speedster, Grodd goes for his legs...thus affecting the future Zoloman I face now.

I watch as Reverse Flash finds it hard to stand, his knees buckle as he is about to drop and join me on the ground. He grunts in frustration before turning his attention back to me as I stand. "Some other time, then.", he says before running away. "No, I won't let you outrun me!", I shout before running after him. I stay twenty, sometimes gain on him to thirteen feet behind him as the chase begins. I continue to pursue my rival until we reach his destination and we enter the building where Grodd gave his presentation the day I received my abilites.

Inside, Reverse Flash watches his past self struggle to escape the grip of two Grodds. He charges into one and follows up with multiple punches to the other. They both reel back in fright, but Zoloman doesn't stop, he keeps attacking the gorillas, making them turn and spin while trying to escape his attack. I join in on the battle, but mainly focus on trying to attack Zoloman, but this time...he punches me harder than before, coming extremely close to knocking me out...he's been holding back.

I try to move my motionless body, try to see through the blurry vision he provided by the punch, try to overcome my dizziness and sleepiness, but it's overpowering me. I can barely see or hear the other red streak join the fight...

MY future self.


	9. Guilt

When I came to, I awoke on a comfortable bed. I could sense someone next to me, my vision returning at the moment. Once it does, I can see that it's Iris! I sit up straight in surprise, then I remember another thing, I reach up to my face and feel around for a mask...it's missing. She giggles, "Don't worry. You're still handsome.", she says while standing. "How'd I get here?", I ask cautiously. "Your friend, Flash, he brought you here and said you were injured. I was going to take you to the hospital but he said you'd be better off without one.", she replies, telling me her side of the story.

I focus on trying to regain my memory of the incident before I blanked out. Present Grodd and Future Grodd were trying to kill Present Zoloman. Future Zoloman, better known as Reverse Flash had raced to his rescue so he wouldn't die and fade from existance. I had followed him and tried to join the fight, but he punched me hard enough that I began to black out...maybe even hallucinate. I could've sworn seeing another streak of red...like mine...only faster.

"Barry, why didn't you tell me you knew him?", she asks, interrupting my train of thought. I ignore her question and make my own, "What did he look like?", I need to know if it was me...or my future self. "What do you mean? Like he always does.", she replies, confused. "I mean, did he have fabric covering his eye or something?", I ask, more specific this time. "I don't know, he kept his distance. I think so.", she answers. I then receive another vision, this one of me in a tuxedo, I seem to be panicking, looking for someone. Then...the yellow flash of light snaps me back to reality.

"Are you okay?", she asks me. "Yeah...i'm fine.", I lie. After a long argument about leaving, I finally win and race home. I have no idea what happened to them all and I have no clues to finding out. I just have to ignore it all and go to work. I've been missing out on it, taking days off as I handled the situation at hand. I'm behind in a lot of paperwork and quite surprised they didn't fire me. As I catch up on my missed asignments, Joe enters the room.

"Hey Barry. Mind dropping what you're doing and heading over to the mirror company?", he asks me. "Joe...i'm pretty busy and it's hard to catch up as it is.", I reply, not taking my eyes off of missed investigations. One is about some lunatic dressed in random colors playing tricks and gags on patrol officers. Not the childish kind though, a deadly kind. "What do you need me to go there for anyway?", I ask, continuing to read the file.

"Instead of letting the convicts sit in their cells all day and sleep for free, we decided to make them work as punishment. We decided to make them work at a mirror factory.", he explains. "Not very smart, one of them could break one and use it to stab somebody.", I reply, thinking about a hostage situation. "We've got enough men on standby, nobody will attempt something that stupid unless they want to be shot.", Joe replies.

I decline Joe's offer and continue my work. It's easier to multitask this way and think about Reverse Flash's next step...whatever it may be.

Although, I am foolish. I don't take the time out to think about any other criminal's plan. While the Flash has been chasing his shadow, all these people have been committing crimes behind my back. Over eighty three files on eighty three criminals. And soon...the number will go to eighty four.

Samuel Scudder, a convict, works at the mirror factory. His job is simple, mix the specified chemicals onto the pan so they can be put through the furnace. He acidentally bumps a jar of the wrong chemical and ruins his batch. He goes to find a police officer or someone to tell them and find out what to do, but when he leaves his station, another convict takes it and places it in the furnace. Samuel tries to keep track with it, afraid of what the final result may be...except...when it comes out. It looks as normal as any other mirror. He dares to touch it...once he does...his finger goes through the mirror he's touching...and out the mirror behind it.

Meanwhile, I finish going through the files and grab my ring. It's time to play catch up. As I leave my office, I spot Joe speaking with another officer, Eddie Thawne. According to the report about the lunatic playing gags on cops, Eddie was one of the few who survived an encounter. I approach him, "Hey Eddie, long time no see.", I say. "Barry Allen? I'm surprised you still remember me. Where have you been?", he replies. "Taking those sick days.", I say jokingly with a laugh, "Anyways, I wanted to ask you about this...uh...he doesn't really have a name. The Trickster who's been playing gags on patrol officers.", I say.

"Yes, well, he wears a mask so we weren't able to indentify him yet.", Eddie says. "Yeah, well, I was wondering if you could tell me a little about your encounter with him. I was thinking about taking up the case.", I reply. Joe interrupts Eddie before he can speak, "Barry, you're not a detective, you can't take on this assignment...let alone any assignment, your place is here.", he says. "Well, who knows? This could be my chance to get promoted.", I reply with sarcasm. "I'm not letting you risk your life out there.", Joe says before walking away. "Eddie, come on. Please tell me.", I beg. He just shrugs his shoulders and says, "Boss says not to.", before walking away.

So, I go to the morgue to get a look at the bodies from his attack. One has a green putty like material glued to his nose. It looks like snot of some sort but it's obviously a deadly and poisonous material. Next to the Trickster's victum, is a victum of Mick Rory, the body is covered completely in third degree burns. I can't help but think their deaths as my fault, I could've been there if I wasn't so obsessed with Reverse Flash and Grodd. I was being selfish and it got these men killed...

I use the rest of the day and night to run around the city, in search for any of these murderers. I come up empty with no sign of any of them. The next day, everyone is informed of Samuel Scudder's escape, we all expect him to show up soon by doing something stupid like robbing a bank...which is exactly what he does. Everyone runs to their cars or motorcycles, ready to catch him, but I know they won't make it in time...so I go.

I race into the bank immeditally, in front of me is a man dressed in orange and green. He holds bags of cash in his hands. "You know, I always wondered why the criminal always steals from the banks instead of stealing what they want. I mean, if you try to pay for the item you want with the stolen cash, the cashier will most likely recongize you and your hard work of robbing a bank will be for nothing.", I say jokingly as my opening line.

"Who said I wasn't doing both?", he says before grinning. "You're not the only one who can be at two places at the same time.", he finishes saying. I look around the room and notice several more of him around me. Is he capable of duplicating himself? Doesn't matter...

Because i'm surrounded.


	10. Mirrors

"Get him.", the man holding the bags says before his multiple copies rush at me. I zig zag around them and race to the exit to block them. Once there, I notice the one who stole the money is gone, but it doesn't make sense, where else could he have gone to escape? I then notice the other minions of his, a quick run by at a specific speed should knock them all out in one clean punch. I race up to the first and throw a right cross to his jaw...it shatters. No, not the bone, I mean his chin, not only his chin, but his whole body. It shatters into fragments of glass.

In the mix of the confusion, two grab me from behind, I spin in a circle as fast as I can, letting the momentum make them lose their grip and cause them to go crashing into the walls. Just like the one I punched, they shatter. Three remain, they circle me, waiting for a moment to strike. I keep my eyes on them while my thoughts race. How is it possible they could break like that? Did I kill them? I needed answers...so I ran through a gap they left open. Once behind them, I take a chair and toss it into one.

The last two hesitate as I ram into one and turn to the last minion who didn't shatter yet. "Talk. How do they shatter like that?", I ask in my best menacing voice. "We're mirror image copies...what'd you expect?", he says with a grin. I grab him and run up the side of a building, once to the roof, I dangle him over it. "I'm not joking.", I say, trying to be serious. "So am I. But go ahead and drop me, i'll just shatter like the rest. In fact, my time is about up, so i'll shatter anyway.", he says with a slight shrug.

"Then enlighten me, explain what you meant by 'mirror copies'.", I say with a shake to muster anymore fear into him I could. "Exactly that, we came from a mirror, it was our job to copy your movements, you see us anytime you look into a mirror. Although, it's quite hard to keep the movements familiar or look EXACTLY like you. So we had to make things go backwards...", he explains. It makes no sense, it's impossible...but I believed him. Afterall, I can run this fast, so anything is possible, right?

He sighs sadly to himself, "My time is finally up.", he says before he shatters into several shards of glass. Later, I returned to the station so I could catch up on anymore work. It's hard to juggle everything but I try to manage. A good way to do it is to multi-task. I think about this...Mirror Master, as I work. If he can create mirror copies of himself, then he's dangerous...but not really. I mean, if all it takes is one strong force to shatter them, then i'll just have to move fast and break them all. The next time he showed his face, was at a jewelary store.

Once I raced in, I stated, "I see you took my advice.", as a joke. This time, he was scooping jewels into a backpack with his hand. "You could say that, couldn't you?", he says with a chuckle before he points to something behind me. I raise my fists and spin around ready for a fight...all I see is my reflection in the window. Then, the reflection leaps out and tackles me. I rail my knee into his chest, cracking it, but not shattering him. "So my theory is correct. Stronger the glass, stronger the copy. You see, the windows at the bank were regular, made to be fancy, not strong. The owners here didn't take that chance did they? They used reinforced glass!", he explains.

I roll over with the copy so i'm on top and slam its head into the floor, shattering it. "Not reinforced enough.", I say before running at him, he just backs up into a mirror that is behind him. He fades into it just as I crash into it. Somehow he dissapears into it, but I just rail into it and break it. I curse under my breath that I let him escape and vow that next time will be the last time. Because i'll know what to do, break the windows and mirrors so he has no means of escape or help.

Little did I know, the next time he would appear would be to finish me off. Reports of an attack at a carnvial was filed in, so I moved fast to get there and face him. Sure enough, he was there. "Flash! I'm glad you decided to come. Sadly, it'll be the last time that you race to the scene of the crime to stop me.", he says before running into the maze of mirrors behind him. I enter with caution, none of my reflections match my movement, they just stare me down. I notice a few mirrors have a Mirror Master run by inside them. Suddenly, one comes out behind me, I react fast and punch it.

This one doesn't shatter, he's real. I reach for him but the punch causes him to fall backwards into another mirror. I take a deep breath before running through the room, punching each one. I can see him run through the mirrors, sometimes in and out of others. Eventually, all that remains is one mirror...he stares at me through it. Tries to bang on it, ram in, shout at me...no noise. He's trapped in the mirror. If it breaks...what would happen to him? I wait for the police to arrive, expecting Joe to enter the building...but an officer named Eddie Thawne does instead.

He doesn't draw his gun though, "Oh my God...you're the Flash! I'm your biggest fan!", he shouts in amazement. I smile back, "Thanks, hey, mind doing me a favor and taking care of this guy? Be sure not to break him.", I say before racing out of the room. To think I have a fan...

Maybe things will finally go my way.


	11. Tricked

As police swarmed the massive building, little did they know that the Flash was on his way. Another suicide attempt, the man claims to be a business employee who had lost his job and was about to lose his wife. He had nothing to live for anymore, and decided to jump off the tallest building in the area he was at. Word got in from a 911 call that the suicide attempt was taking place here. Of course, the police filed out, Barry didn't know what was happening, but he decided to suit up and follow them at a close distance. "They're too slow.", Barry muttered to himself. As much as he enjoyed being a forensics scientist for the department, he would be of better use as a detective or patrol officer...as the Flash in this case.

He arrived swiftly behind them before racing up the side of the building. The cops were stunned for a moment but immeditally started returning to work on setting up inflated beds for him to land on if he jumped or fell. Flash raced to the roof of the building and stood behind the startled businessman. "Sir, i'm going to ask you calmly to step away from the ledge.", Flash says, trying to keep his voice down to not startle the man any further. The man's response was a sly grin before stepping down as asked, "Look's like you were tricked afterall.", he says before the Flash can see the enormous green blob coming at him.

It rails into his chest, the goo wrapping itself around him and becoming an elastic sticky dough. It renders anybody motionless, but that's not the only problem, the goo is also designed to burn through things with its acid properties. Barry can feel it burning through the suit, stinging him. He struggles to get free but is interrupted by a hard kick to the back of his head. He collapses to the ground, barely holding on to conciousness. "I guess I was wrong.", says a sarcastic voice, making Barry's eyes wonder in search for the person it belongs to.

"I thought you'd be fun but you're just like the rest of them, easy, simple, predictable, and BORING!", the voice continues to rant as it circles Barry, keeping away from his glare. "Really now? Can any of them do THIS?", Barry says before attempting to phase through the blob of green, and doing so, he stands up with a torn, red to black burned, damaged suit. "Hm. No. But they can die, just like you.", says the brightly colored man before him. Striped pants, orange and yellow, a shirt filled with dots of many sizes and triangles too. The dots and triangles consisted of purple, yellow, pink, and lime green.

Outside of it, the shirt was just plain blue. Behind him was a clear shower curtain with several cartoon ducks and birds on it, clearly made for a baby. His mask was the corny star shaped sunglasses you could buy at Dollar General. The rims were bright red, lenses pitch black. His hair was a mess and big enough to be an afro if not messy, he was clearly a natural blonde but with several splots of hair dye tossed in, pink splot here, green splot there, and a large red splot in the back. In his hand, he wielded a shotgun shaped gun, it'd look deadly if not for the large nose shape on the end of the barrel.

He fired it again, the green goo supposed to be snot, being released through the nose holes. This time, Barry was ready with his reflexes, and dodged it. He then ran at Trickster, expecting to snag him by his cape or something, but the lunatic leaped over his head in time to dodge the assault. As he soared through the air, Barry noticed his feet were covered by green elf socks that had the bells ripped off, the kind you'd see sold on Christmas. This guy was clearly insane.

Flash spun around in time to punch the lunatic square in the jaw as he landed. The impact sent the man spiarling, his teeth falling onto the rooftop, clattering. For a moment, it looked real, but then Barry realized it was just the gag toy from Dollar Tree, the ones that are teeth and after you wind them up, they shut and open really fast. The man clearly found it hilarious because he let out an extremely loud histarical, annoying, insane laughter. He then turned serious and got into a fighting stance.

"BACK OFF MAN! I know Ju Jitsu.", he says before spinning slowly and kicking in the air. He makes the silent, "Whooo...", attack noise. "I also know, KARATE!", and makes the karate chop movement while saying, "CHA! CHA!", and giggles a bit afterward. "So, come at me bro!", he shouts before charging at Flash, who simply punches him in the stomach. The man drops to his knees and hands. "Ouch...that hurt.", he mutters loud enough for Flash to hear. "You're under arrest.", Flash says before holding out his hand. The lunatic takes the offer and grabs his hand, giving Barry an electric shock and sending him on his back. "GET REKT!", the loon shouts before leaping to his feet.

"Like it? I got the idea of a joy buzzer from this clown in Gotham City. Nice guy, you should meet him.", he says matter of factly and lets out another laugh. "Enough of this, I went easy on you, but now you've asked for it.", Flash says before standing up. "OOH! SCARY!", the loon says sarcastically and pulls out a napkin from his pocket. He waves it around in defeat, "I surrender.", he says with a chuckle. Flash grabs him by the shirt and drags him to the ledge of the building. "Good.", he says before tossing the loon over the ledge. The man shows no sign of fear, just excitement and laughter, "SEE YA NEXT FALL!", he shouts before landing on the blowup cushion. Flash turns to see the goon who works for him. "Jump. Or i'll make you.", Flash says in his best menacing voice.

The man listens and follows behind his boss. Below, the cops are loading the insane lunatic into the transportation van, once inside, the escorting officers sit down, letting out a large farting noise. The man burts into laughter as they stand up in surprise to see whoopie cushions. "Oh yeah, ha ha, bet you're a real Trickster, huh?", the one officer says. "Trickster, huh? I like that name!", he says before bursting into another round of laughter as the doors close behind him, canceling the noise from the outside.


	12. Rising Fire

Elsewhere, cellmates Leonard Snart and Mick Rory, two complete opposites realize that they must work together to escape. One, a chilling villain of sorts capable of turning a human into a popsicle. The other, a pyrotechnic capable of burning down an entire school. We all know what Snart is doing time for, but Rory is far more dangerous. Rory was smoking one day and tossed it aside casually, this caused a barn to burn down. He was captivized by the flame and decided to create more, trying to get a bigger fire every time. First, he burned down a house with a box of matches, next he burned down a school once getting hold of a flamethrower.

After that, he's been trapped in the cell by his lonesome...without light...without flame. Snart offered that back to him if they escaped and killed the now lengendary Flash of Central City. In their cell, they've been collecting any twigs and leaves they could find at the courtyard. After months of hard work, they had a handful supply hidden under their bedsheets. Rory, being a master at creating fire, went boyscout style and ran the stick between his hands quickly, creating the first simple flame. Next, they blew softly on it, giving it oxygen to stay lit. Then...all that remained was to make it grow. Adding the leaves in, the flame went fast, next, the bed sheets.

Once the bed sheets were on fire, Snart and Rory tossed them through the cage holes. The smoke activated the sprinkler system which Snart had tampered with on the first day. Like, Rory, he's an expert...only in ice. Snart had used Rory as a step stool to reach it through the bars and mess with the settings to a freezing temperature capable of turning water to ice. Once this happened, long shards of ice were protruding down. Next, they broke two, creating sharp daggers of ice.

All they had to do now was wait for the security to swarm in and check all the cells. Once they did so, they attacked, stabbing three, and taking two hostage. Their plan had worked, they managed to use the hostages to leave in a transportation van. After ten minutes of speeding away, they ditched the car by leaping out at the last second as it drove into a lake. Next, they used the guns from the dead security guards to kill a clothing store employee. Once they left the store, Snart was in his regular blue snowcoat and grey sweat pants. Big black snow boots too, along with the signiture blue rimmed shades he could find.

Rory came out wearing normal street clothes, a pair of jeans and a red shirt. Of course, regular shoes. "You're drawing too much attention to us.", Rory warned his partner. "Well, soon enough, that'll be the plan.", Snart replied before the two stole the store worker's car. Whilst driving in the car, the two spoke thoughtfully. "Where are we headed next?", asked Snart's partner. "Anywhere you want, but it has to be from a selection of clothing stores or something.", Leonard replied to Rory. "You want me to wear a silly getup like you?", Rory asked his partner. "Yes.", Snart said simply. "Fine...to the nearest firestation.", Rory replied.

Once there, the two shot any employees with the night shift before Rory found his new "getup". A full firefighter suit consisting of bright orange and dark yellow. "No, no. We need to make it pop out more. Let people notice you easily.", Leonard told his partner once he returned. Keeping his advice in mind, the two went to a small gas station where they shot the clerk and stole a can of white spray paint in which Rory spraypainted the yellow area white. Snart also stole a wrist watch. He read the time...they've been escaped convicts for two hours now. "Where to now?", Rory asked his partner, interrupting him from thinking about any cops tailing them. He just turned to Rory and smiled, "To get our gear.", he says.

Luckily, Rory knew a military surplus store that carried grenades, C4's, mines, and his personal flamethrower. Once they acquired his items, all that was left was to retrieve Snart's cold gun. The problem with that...it was back at the prison in the storage room. Or is it a problem? Snart had figured, now that its been four hours since their escape, they wouldn't plan on them coming back by now. They didn't exactly plan a stealthy breakin either, Rory threw a grenade at the entrance gate which exploded on impact. The two raced through, Snart ran straight for the door, but Rory was having too much fun engulfing security guards in flames with his weapon.

"MICK!", Leonard shouted to his friend before waving him over, getting his attention. Rory then kicked open the door and sprayed the room with flames. "I'll get my gun, stay here.", Snart ordered his partner before running away. Rory grinned as he used the waiting time to set land mines for any unlucky security guards or employees of any kind. Once Snart returned, he spun his cold gun by the tip of his finger with a smirk. "Nice handgun. I could've gotten one of those from anywhere.", Rory said, only noticing the outside features.

"This isn't just ANY handgun. It's MY handgun.", Snart replied before shooting a security guard, turning him to pure ice. The two then left, leaving a mess for the cops to find in the morning.

Barry Allen, Joe West, and Eddie Thawne all entered the building, along with several other officers. Though, Eddie is a detective and upholding the case. Joe is one week away from graduating to commissioner, and Barry is a forensics scientist, one of the most important people to solving a crime scene. Not only that though, but Barry Allen also turns out to be the Flash! He inspects the frozen corpse. "Snart's back...", he mutters to himself. Then turns to see the burned corpses. "That's new.", he says soon after.

Suddenly, an explosion goes off, and Barry pulls out his ring, ready to suit up. He then notices a huge hole engulfed with flame and smoke from where a landmine went off. "Looks like they set welcoming gifts for us.", Thawne says jokingly. Barry isn't listening though, he has one thought going through his mind: Burned corpes...landmines? It just isn't Snart's MO. He must have a new partner...

He's right...and he's about to meet him very soon. Captain Cold and his new founded partner are attacking New Brighton. Word gets out on the comm that any available units should arrive at the address given. Of course, this goes through on the officers with Barry. Hearing this, he suits up, and goes there as the Flash. Upon arriving, he finds Snart in his full Captain Cold uniform, next to him, somebody new in a firefighter suit consisting of white and orange. "Ah, Flash! I was wondering when you'd come.", Snart greets him casually.

"Yeah, I got stuck in traffic, sorry about that.", Barry says calmly. "Do you know where we are? New Brighton...residental area and home to the Central City Railway Station!", he says while spreading his arms. "What about it?", Flash says more than asks. "Well, i'm glad you asked. We took the liberty of making sure the Central City train doesn't have a next stop. Unless you could do something about it.", Snart says, taunting our hero. Of course, Flash races away, going in pursuit of the train. "Are you sure this will wear him down?", Rory asks his partner. "Of course, he's fast but all things that are fast eventually get tired.", Snart replies.

Meanwhile, Flash is chasing the train, inspecting the frozen brakes and burned out wiring. The train has no way of stopping...so Flash boards the train, snatching people in groups of two, going quickly, carrying each group from each cart as quickly as he can. Eventually, he realizes he has eight more carts to go out of fifteen and he won't make it in time. Unless...he then gets a new idea. He has to move fast! He races to the front cart and notices to latch connected to the others. Just like he saw Reverse Flash do, he uses his hand as an axe to flash the connection and break the speeding cart free of the others, saving anyone not in the one cart.

It races faster now, free of the other carts. All that remains on it is Flash, who leaps off and races back to the location of his two foes. Flash races back, in the middle of the two ticket booths. He glances around, not seeing the enemies...until they surprise him by firing from either sides of their booths. Fire and ice launch towards him, but he has enough time to race away just barely, causing the streams to collide and form a large cloud of misty steam. His vision now blinded by the foggy substance, as well as his foes, the three are in an all out brawl.

Flash closes his eyes and listens for any sound...behind him, he hears soft footsteps, and throws a strong right cross to Captain Cold's jaw. Though, while taking down one foe, the other sneaks up behind him and shoots the wave of heat at him. Flash sways aside, missing a deadly burn, but getting a minor one degree burn. "How do you like that heatwave, Flash?!", Rory taunts the scarlet speedster. "Not very much. I think it needs to chill out.", Flash says before grabbing Snart's gun and freezing the rogue villain in place.

"All in a days work.", Flash says with a shrug before speeding off, passing by a now arriving responding police car, driven by Eddie Thawne. Rory and Snart look at eachother, thinking they've got time to escape, when they hear a strong voice of authority.

"Leonard Snart, Mick Rory...I have an offer for you.", says the unseen voice.

They both glance in the direction it came from, worried of the arriving officer. Only they see someone else. "Who are you? Flash's pal?", Snart shouts in anger. The man smiles.

"Quite the opposite actually...some may even say i'm reverse.", says the arch enemy of Flash.


	13. Big Top

Luis Niamonda, the newly hired night guard was taking his first shift at a local Best Buy's when suddenly, he heard a loud crash. He drew his baton and flicked on his flashlight, racing to the possible source of the sound. When reaching the spot he heard it come from, he found the front door's glass busted out. He spun quickly when hearing a soft scraping across the floor. Although, he saw nobody behind him, instead, when he lowered his flashlight, he found a top spinning...dying out of its strength, about to stop spinning. He eyed it curiously...once it stopped, it released a blinding chemical into his eyes, causing Luis to shout out in terror.

Barry entered Best Buy's alongside his friends, Joe and Eddie. "Are we seriously worried about a guy who stole from a Best Buy's?", Eddie asked Joe. "Yes, the suspect injured one of the night guards here.", Joe replied, glancing to Barry who just rolled his eyes. There had been several petty robberies like these recently, Best Buy's, Wal-Marts, Targets, local stores. "What'd they steal this time?", Joe asked one of the officers. "You're not gonna believe this...the videogames Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo Wars.", the officer replied. The thief had been stealing things that just didn't add up. First, a Toshiba laptop and 3D Flatscreen TV from Wal-Mart. Next, two liters of Root Beer and thirty bags of chips, along with a few classic movies like Sandlot, Iron Giant, Rookie of the year, and Toy Story from Target.

Recently, they also stole a Wii system, PS4, X-Box 360, X-Box One, and Nitendo XL 3D from Gamestop, along with a few games like Scribblenauts, Mario Kart, Far Cry, and Walking Dead by Telltale. Now, he steals from Best Buy's for just a few games? "We suspect the thief is between fifteen and eighteen.", the officer continues saying. "Okay, thank you for your time.", Joe says before moving on to the next location of the store. Meanwhile, Barry decides to look around and see if there is something else. He does, he picks up a blue top that fits perfectly in the palm of his hand. "What'dya got there?", Barry hears behind him before stuffing the top in his jacket's pocket and turning to see Eddie.

"Nothing, just looking around for anything else.", Barry replies. "Alright, let me know if you see something.", Eddie says before turning to walk away. "Wait!", Barry while placing a hand on Eddie's shoulder to stop him. "Do you know what hospital the night guard is at?", Barry asks.

Luis lays on the bed provided by the hospital, his eyes covered in bandages and wrapping. "Who's there?", Luis asks when Barry steps into the room. "That's not important. What is, is that we find the person who did this to you.", Barry replies. "How are you going to do that? The cops said the cameras weren't functioning properly.", Luis says. "We don't need the cameras. We have you. You must've seen something.", Barry says. "I'll ask again...who are you?", Luis asks curiously, possibly fearfully. When Barry doesn't respond, he unexpectedly sits up and removes his bandages. Barry uses his phasing ability to vibrate his face so nobody can reconigize him. It works due to Luis' damaged eyes which are blurry enough without Barry's speed mask.

"Tell me why I found this there.", Barry says before handing him the blue top. "This thing...it was just spinning there...and shot out some kinda mist that made my eyes sting.", Luis explains. "While it was spinning?", Barry asks. "Uh, no...no, when it stopped.", Luis replies, thinking back to the events of that night. "Did you see who spun it?", Barry asks. "No, sorry...", Luis answers.

Barry races out of the room and straight to his office to look over the files. One of the folders was written about a similar case in which tops were always found at the scenes of the crimes. Each one did something different to the night guard, one was caught in a net, one was electrocuted, one was knocked out by tear gas, and finally, just like Luis, one's eyes were blinded by a spray. The cops had nicked the thief, Top, since that was all they ever knew about him or her. Well, the next time Top shows their face, Flash will get a good look at it.

The silent alarm to a Toys R Us was tripped, Flash raced straight for it. Once he entered, he found a night guard on his back, a blue top next to him. Flash checked his neck for a pulse...he's breathing. The top must've been one of the electrocuting ones. Flash then went straight to racing down each aisle until he found a short person in a Blue Screen Suit. I'm sure you've heard of a Green Screen Suit, well this applies the same way. "Whoah...cool!", the person said when Flash raced up to him. The voice was male...and young. Flash simply used the handcuffs he took from the station to cuff the person and proceded to remove their mask quickly.

The Top is a common kid...maybe thirteen or fourteen. "Hey! Let me go!", the kid pleads while trying to break free of the cuffs. "No. You need a time out.", Flash says before racing away, leaving him for the cops.

The next day, Joe made the announcement of Top's capture. With the downside to the bad news of Mick Rory and Leonard Snart still missing, apparently they were never arrested. "Well...you win some, you lose some.", Barry mutters to himself before leaving. While walking down the street, Barry noticed something odd...somebody was following him. He never got a good look at them, but he noticed somebody was making a great effort to follow him. He ducked into an alley when spotting one, waiting for the pursuiter to follow. Once they did, Barry grabbed them by the arms and slammed them against the wall.

Barry was shocked to see that it was a woman about his age following him. Not only that, but a beautiful woman, she had blonde hair that went just past her shoulders. That made Barry notice her shirt was a white button up. The last three buttons undone showed off some cleavage and a orange bra. He looked down to avoid gaze and saw that she had a black skirt that was just above her knees. She was the kind of girl that showed some skin. "My eyes are up here.", she says making Barry turn his attention back to her gorgeous face. "Uh, sorry...I mean, why were you following me?", Barry started to apologize when he realized she should be the one apologizing for following him.

She sighs softly, "I guess you caught me. I guess you could say I have a small crush on you, handsome.", she says with a sweet smile making Barry blush. "W- Wh- W- Wha- What?", Barry stuttered out, making the girl giggle. "I found you cute and cool when walking past the police station one day. I just had to get to know you.", she explains. "Well...let's start with a name. Mine's Barry Allen.", Barry says while releasing her and backing up. "I'm Lisa.", she replies back. "No last name?", Barry asks. "Just Lisa.", she says with another giggle. "Well...uh, i've got places to be. Though, I can give you my number so we can take this up another time?", Barry asks. She smiles, "Sure...that'd be great.", she replies while Barry gives her the phone number. Afterwards, he started walking down the street again, headed home or elsewhere as the Flash. Either way...he was happy.

"Yeah...things are looking up.", Barry assures himself.


	14. All in a days work

Barry woke the next morning to his phone's ringtone. "Hello?", Barry answered sleepily. "Good morning!", said a familiar cheery voice. It took Barry a moment to remember. "Lisa?", Barry asked while rubbing his eyes and trying to wake up. "Yeah, that's me. So, Barry, wanna hook up for some breakfast?", she asked. Of course, Barry found her beautiful and couldn't come up with a reason not to, so he said yes. Soon after hanging up, he made a mental note to himself: _Take HER number next time._

Later, at the diner Lisa picked, Barry sat across from his date. He was wearing his simple police uniform while she decided to dress too comfortablly for the occasion. She had a small orange dress that cut off two inches above her knees, the straps were long enough to show cleavage once again, not as much as last time. "You...uh...look nice.", Barry mustered out. "Thanks, so do you.", she replied. The two looked through their menus and ordered scrambled eggs, the usual kind of breakfast you could get at a diner. "So, I was wondering if there was some way to get to know you a bit better, maybe, we could go to this?", she said, breaking the silence and handing him tickets to a hockey game.

"My brother suggested we go, he loves playing on ice.", she says with a shrug. "Oh, your brother is a hockey player?", Barry asks. "Something like that.", she says with a small smile. "And what about you? What do you do?", Barry asks before taking a sip of his water. "I use to be a figure skater...but I quit to help support the family.", she explains. "I see. Are you okay now?", Barry asks curiously. "More than you'll ever know.", she says a grin. The waiter returns with their food so they may eat. The rest of the time being seemed to be silence besides a few questions from Lisa about Barry.

Q: What are your hobbies?

A: I run alot, it's good exercise.

Q: So, you're a cop?

A: Forensics Scientist. A bit of a difference, but in a way, yes.

Then, a few touchy questions...

Q: What do you think about the Flash?

A/Q: What about him?

Q/A: Like, what's your opinion on him?

A: Um...well, he's clearly trying to help.

"I'm sorry, I can see that it's a personal subject. I'm sure the police department aren't too happy about vigilantes.", she replies quickly. "Not nessicarly, I mean, look at other heroes like Superman or Green Arrow. They're vigilantes and yet, it's okay for them to patrol the streets. Why would the Flash be any different?", Barry replies. "Point taken. Moving on...", Lisa says, avoiding gaze with Barry.

Q: Did you ever have a girlfriend?

A: No...

Q: Do you want one?

A: That's a bit of a tough question...I mean, of course i'd like to have someone I can love and be truthful with all the time...but, my line of work would put her in danger.

"Not this girl.", Lisa says with a smile. "We just met. You're a nice girl and I find you attractive but we need time to know eachother a little more.", Barry responds, treading carefully on what he says. "I understand...", Lisa says before grabbing her purse and standing. "Here's my half of the-", she starts to say but Barry cuts her off, "No, no, i'll pay.", and then...she walks briskly out the door. "Real smooth, Mr. Allen.", Eddie Thawne says, walking towards him. "Eddie? What are you doing here?", Barry asks, shocked by his work partner's appearance. Eddie sits across from him, "I come here every day for breakfast.", he says.

"Well, you can have our table, we just finished.", Barry replies while standing up. "Want my advice?", Eddie asks. "Not really.", Barry says quickly while walking away.

Later, at the police department, Barry overhears a conversation between two officers.

Officer 1: Yo, Matt!

Officer 2: Hey Jim. What's up?

Officer 1: Nothing good, did you hear about the drug dealers from Keystone City?

Officer 2: No, but sounds interesting. Tell me more.

Officer 1: They're here...in Central City. There's gonna be a huge drug bust at the hockey game tonight.

This got Barry to thinking, the Flash will need to be there just in case. On top of that, he made Lisa feel bad this morning, but if he goes on this date with her, it'll cheer her up. Win, win! Right?

At the hockey game, the couple watch from the crowd. "These are great seats! How did your brother get them?", Barry asks. "He won the lotto.", Lisa says jokingly. "Ha, ha, very funny.", Barry says with a grin. Meanwhile, in the locker room, players who were benched and drug workers are exchanging cash and a new drug made in Starling City called Vertigo. Police kick down the door and point their guns. "HANDS UP!", they shout, but it doesn't avoid the gun fight. Though, the police would stand a chance in a gun fight, the drug dealers had someone- someTHING else, on their side.

Gunshots and roars from the locker room causes an uproar in the stadium, the crowd running and screaming. Barry manages to take hold of Lisa's hand. "Stay close!", Barry shouts over the panic while trying to lead her away. Chaos goes to carnage once the bleachers explode into fragments of wood and metal as a fifteen foot tall creature smashes through. Barry loses his grip and falls into the locker room. He manages to crawl away from the gunfire and watches Lisa climb up the remaining stairs, escaping the gunfight. A dead body falls down next to Barry after being shot.

"No more deaths will be caused tonight...", Barry vows in a whisper before using his ring to suit up and race around the room. He snatches the handcuffs from all the police and cuffs the drug dealers as well as disarms them of their weapons. Once done, all that remained was the giant black goop monster. "What is that thing?", Flash shouts to one of the officers. "It looks like the Tar Man from the police reports!", he shouts back. The monster slings tar at Barry who races to the side. The cops try to provide help by firing at it, though the bullets do nothing but get absorbed.

Flash then notices a propane tank and tosses it into the beast. "Shoot that!", Barry shouts before racing to cover. Once shot, the tank explodes, catching the tar on fire. Flash sighs, "All in a days work, officers...", he says before running out of the room.

"All in a days work..."


End file.
